The Ender Girl
by TheSuddenJump
Summary: The factions of the Overworld have raged in battle for as long as anyone can remember. Rescued after genocide eliminates her family, a young girl is spirited away to a strange land of floating islands. Many years later, she is offered a chance to help a stranger and this changes her life forever. Unfortunately, power is something many will do whatever is necessary to obtain.
1. Humans

Aurora's POV

Slowly, gently, I flipped the ancient pages of the well worn book, marveling at the familiar pictures inside. Each one a work of art, each one telling a story about a place I had never been- the overworld.

Up here in the highest levels of the graceful, branching building I called home, I was able to find peace. Instead of the constant buzz of tens, even hundreds of minds working together, the babble of many tongues, I heard only silence, and I took my time to revel in it.

I paused at one page that had caught my attention. It was a drawing that seemed so lifelike, I almost could have mistaken it for the real thing had it not been done in the flowing lines caused by writing with a quill and ink. I ran my hand over it, taking in every detail. It was a picture of a small pond, surrounded by flowers of various shapes and colour. All along it were vertical, sweeping strokes- rain, I realized. It sounded amazing to feel the water streaking down your skin, seeping into the ground below. It never rained here.

Of course, I knew very well that the overworld wasn't safe, wasn't a place of beauty and tranquility. It was a place of war.

Factions ruled the overworld, giving a disadvantage to those without and thrusting those with one into an eternal struggle for power, dominance, and resources. There was no place for a peaceful family to start a home or a farm. There, you had to be on the run or ready to fight. You worked to protect your faction, you worked to keep yourself alive.

Here, it was different. I had never been trained to use a sword or bow, I didn't grow up wanting to become the mightiest warrior of all my faction. I didn't practice lying, I learned manners and conduct. That sounded like a life that was filled with danger and fear, unlike here, where we all had a job to do.

Sighing to myself, I closed the book and gently set it back on my bedside table, ready to be picked up and read another day, The book was from the stronghold ruins in the overworld itself, buried deep under the earth, never to be found. The only link between our world and theirs, it was carefully guarded at all times, just in case.

I was the only human to ever enter, and survive without wounds, the End. A place forever in limbo. Of course, I had not come here on purpose. I had been saved from the factions at war when I was young, too young to remember much. Orphaned after a raid on my home, I was taken pity on and brought here, growing up in a place with no sun, rain, or snow.

Stepping over to my small window, I gazed outside, staring up at the stars that were ever present in the darkened sky with my deep purple eyes. When I was young, they had been a lovely green, but time here had changed me.

A light breeze ruffled my hair, which had grown darker over the years I had lived here- while it had once been a light blond, it was now more black than the sky above me. Yet another change.

Sometimes I doubted whether I really belonged here. I was human, I wasn't meant to be in this place, yet here I was. I couldn't deny the fact that it was gorgeous- each island was it's own homestead, specializing in one factor of work. It was everyone together that kept our society functioning.

Every island was made of stone, floating in the air, yet covered in life- the chorus fruit trees. They kept us alive- the fruit fed us, the fibers used for cloth, the wood for baskets- everything revolved around them. Of course, there were some side effects- most notably, teleportation.

When I was small, I enjoyed playing with the smallest ender children, who couldn't teleport yet. I felt like we were the same. But as we all grew older, it became apparent that this wasn't true. Generations of the chorus ran through their veins, it made them who they were. One a moment's whim, the chorus flowing through them let them move great distances in the blink of an eye. As for me, well, I had another solution.

Snagging the leather harness from its hook on the wall, I began to step into it. First one leg, then the other, and finally around my arms and waist, coming together in the center of my chest. Tightening the straps to a snug fit, I stood facing the open window, ready to jump. If I were to fall from this height, well, at least I'd have a few seconds to admire the view.

Tottering on the windowsill, I looked down upon the island of my homestead. Chorus trees covered the island, but allowed the yellowing stone to peek through the flowers and branches.

Directly below me, but still a frightening drop, was the roof of med-bay one. See, my homestead specialized in medicine- the chorus was inside of us all, so it was only natural it would heal us.

Crouching, I prepared to jump, knowing I wouldn't fall- not with the contraption I was strapped into. It was a pair of elytra, canvas wings made for disabled ender who couldn't teleport to allow them to travel from island to island. I guess I counted, although I rarely traveled farther than the next homestead over.

About to lead, I froze when I felt an inkling of another consciousness. Just as the chorus allowed the ender to teleport, it gave another advantage- being able to sense each other, and transmit pictures and emotions. When combined with the complex language the ender spoke, it allowed for tasks and problems to be quickly explained and targeted, as well as creating better conversation.

I had read that humans had telepathy as well, but unlike the ender, they sent words, not feelings. It seemed confusing how they only thought how they spoke, but considering I was human myself, I just guessed it was limited for them.

Either way, I sensed someone was coming, and rushed over to the door to my room to meet them, feeling anticipation emanating from their mind.

Pushing apart the cloth drapes that served as my door, I gave a quick, shallow bow before looking up to face my counterpart, who had done the same. It was a matter of manners, as staring someone in the eyes without giving a show of politeness was terribly rude.

"What is the problem?" I asked, giving off a feel of confusion. Speaking in the quick, garbled speech of the ender, it would be almost impossible for an outsider to understand but was familiar to me.

A few quick images flashed in my head- a human, ender carrying him…

"A human came here, but was badly injured. We're moving him to the upper rooms for peace of mind."

"But why haven't you killed him?" I asked, not understanding why he had been allowed to live. Obviously my circumstances were unique, as I had never even seen another human with my own eyes.

"He had not looked into the eyes of the guards, he had kept his head low. Not only that, but he was badly injured- he collapsed soon after arriving. We have no reason to harm him."

Nodding along with what he had said, I felt a twinge of excitement burst through me. I'd be meeting another human for the first time in my life.

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Chapter written by Author 2.

 **A/N: I hope you liked the first chapter after the prologue! Author 1, Author 3, and I are going for slightly shorter chapters and faster updates, but we're diving right into the action. If you do have any suggestions, don't be shy to drop a review or PM our way!**


	2. Search Party

Luna's POV

How would you like to wake up to people screaming in your head? Not me. Unfortunately that's what every human had to deal with in the Overworld. If you went to the Nether there wouldn't be many voices, being that very few humans ever go there for long. Taking a deep breath I blocked the voices so that I would only hear the people in my faction.

I swung my legs over the side of my bed, and slowly standing up. I walked over to my armor stand, and chose my chain mill set. I stepped to my chest, grabbed my bow, quiver, and sword which was made of iron.

 _Another day of searching,_ I thought. The faction's leader had told us he was going on a quest and would be back soon, but he had been gone for a month. The faction called any of our allies and asked if they had seen him, but the only helpful note was that Faction Cobble had heard that he was going to find a stronghold. We had looked and looked for the stronghold he had told the Cobble faction leader, Jayde, about. They were brother and sister so I could understand why tell her and not any of us.

I hurried out of my small one room home and into the main area. Our base was one of the strongest, being we had never been raided. Our base was hidden far underground, and the only way to here was if you could navigate the winding tunnels down. I had barely been to the surface because I had grown up here. My mom and dad started this faction, and I was suppose to lead it, but our leader's dad bought our faction from my parents so that we would not be attacked by them. Ryan is our leader, and even though his and my parents are dead he agreed that I could be head general. A small prize for your home, but he had improved more than I ever could.

I hurried down to the med-bay which was on one of the lowest levels. Many stairs later I see Dragon tending to one of the archers after a raid gone wrong happened and he was shot. We lost many brave warriors that day. A few managed to respawn, but some never do.

 _(How's he doing?)_ I telepathically asked Dragon who was head of the Med-bay.

 _(He'll be ready to raid again in maybe a week.)_ she replied, not looking up from the archer. I considered myself head archer in the assassin area, but I could never hit a moving target.

 _(Did you prepare the supplies?)_ I asked her.

 _(Yeah,)_ she said worriedly, ( _A week's supply of food, water, and healing potions for everyone on your search party.)_

 _(Thanks. I'll take it up and we'll head out.)_ I said turning away from her.

 _(No wait! I want to come with you.)_ Dragon called after me as she jumped to her feet.

"What about him?" I said motioning towards the archer.

 _(Rose can take care of him,)_ at the mention of her name the young girl who had become Dragon's apprentice came from the area where they slept. They didn't sleep with the other members being that they needed to be close to the sick and injured.

 _(Have you ever even ridden a horse?)_ I asked, trying to find a way to make her stay. I couldn't just order her to, being when push comes to shove she has higher authority over me.

 _(I use to be part of a horse-based faction before I joined this one. Please allow me to come.)_ she pleaded.

I gave up and said that she could come after trying to find any other way around it. We didn't need someone who wouldn't be helpful if we were attacked on the road. She pulled the ' _In the case of a long journey in order to find a high member of the faction, if the head healer has someone to fill her place she may accompany the search party.'_ I hated that rule. It hadn't been used until now, but that didn't make it any better.

We passed out the supplies to the men and women who were joining us, and started towards the tunnels. One of the few guides we had who had memorized the caves lead us towards the surface. When we reached the top I saw the mountain range that we called home. The biome was perfect. Spruce, oak, and birch trees were no more than half a day away, an ocean lay even closer, and a desert biome had been made by us on the next mountain over.

I lead the group of ten down to the stable we had hidden just inside a cave. The stable master gave us the horses with a little argument about the fact that Dragon wasn't suppose to be with us, and the fact that it left the faction with a very weak cavalry. I just told him that we needed more horses anyway, and for him to breed some new ones. He grumbled, but went back inside the dark stable without another word.

We mounted up and silently we began our search for Ryan. The first place to start, Faction Cobble that had about five other factions in the way. ' _Well this is gonna be fun...'_

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Chapter written by Author 1


	3. Top of the Tower

Aurora's POV

The buildings in the End were inspired by the way the Chorus Trees grow. Rooms represent the flowers, and are made of delicately carved end stone, painted and polished using some sort of coloring called purpur made from the chorus fruit. I wasn't exactly sure how it worked, as I didn't live on a homestead specializing in it. The 'branches' connecting the rooms are made in a similar way, but are open to the sky. They attach either to the center stalk, or a secondary one.

Banners and tapestries woven from the fibers in certain parts of the Chorus Trees were hung throughout the structure as well, serving as doors, decoration, and window covers. I myself had learned to make my own clothes from this kind of cloth, as it was soft but didn't tear easily. I wasn't an amazing tailor or anything (not that there was such a thing in the End, but I had read about it), but I was proud of my endeavors which had noticeably improved over the years.

Since I had made blankets for myself using that cloth, I grabbed one of them off my bed to take to where the human was. No one came up here, usually, unless a badly injured patient needed to be in a calmer environment, so there weren't too many supplies for care kept here. I was lucky enough, though, that this a quiet, untouched place. If ender were constantly coming up here, it would defeat the purpose for the patients, so I was mostly alone save for the occasional patient and an attendee checking on them once in a while.

The ender slept very little, but when they did it was often in the main sleeping rooms far below me. Being human, I had to sleep much more than they did, and I had difficulty doing so with the noise down there- the mental buzz accompanied by being around so many others, as well as the fast, garbled speech the ender spoke in. Also, I did something they did not- had dreams, and even nightmares. It would be disruptive for me to be sending out panic-thoughts without meaning to. Either way, it was a perfect excuse for me to be up here, only going downstairs when I was working- collecting Chorus Fruit from the trees, attending to the injured, or even having to scrape shulkers off the walls if I was unlucky.

Going back to the doorway to my room, I shoved through the drapes and made my way out onto the walkway connecting my room to the stalk. There are four rooms connected at this level- mine, two for patients, and one for storage.

I could still feel the other enderman's presence, so I assumed he was already in the room the human would be staying in. Heck, maybe the human was already there. I was pretty sure they didn't have a mental 'presence' like ender did, since they needed to be stealthy around enemies.

While I would have liked to jump off the edge of the walkway and glide over to the room using my elytra, it was at the same height as mine, and I would loose some elevation by gliding. Rounding the corner, I hopped over the steep, spiraling stairs and onto the walkway leading to the room the human would be kept in.

Sensing my consciousness, the enderman had left the drapes covering the door open. By leaving the door open, this was formally regarded as an invitation for one to enter, so I didn't have to wait for him to allow me to come in, and I didn't need to bow when I entered.

Rushing in, the blanket still in my hands, I realized I was worried- evident by how tight I was clutching it in my hands. I had lived here for as long as I remembered, never having seen another human, let alone interacted with them. Except for the information contained within the book I had about the society in the overworld, I didn't know squat about real people. I had always wanted to meet one, though, but I had been needed here. Even so, I had studied their language carefully- finding I knew much of it from before I had been rescued. I couldn't remember anything that had happened before I came here very clearly, though.

Although he was probably still unconscious, I couldn't tell due to my view of him being blocked by the enderman. How was it humans greeted each other again? Did they even have a formal greeting? Or should I just bow like the ender do?

I didn't want to make a wrong impression. Although I didn't think humans payed as much attention to mannerisms as the ender did, they didn't ignore it completely.

I heard a soft groan come from where the human was, and I nervously walked over, seeing as it seemed he was waking up. The enderman disappeared in a flurry of purple particles, likely to refrain from scaring the human. While it was a good idea, he was out of range for me to sense him, and being all alone didn't really settle my nerves much.

I walked up to the bedside, flinching when he shakily sat up, burying his face in his hands. Gosh, I really was on edge, considering it was perfectly normal for an enderman to teleport in front of me out of nowhere.

"Ugh... wha- what happened?" He mumbled, his hands further muffling his words. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to respond or not. Didn't humans normally speak telepathically? Did that mean he was just talking to himself?

"You were, uh, attacked." I offer, causing his head to snap to the side to stare at me.

"Who are you?" He asked semi-calm, then began looking around at the rest of the room. Then, a bit more hectic, "What faction is this?! Where am I?!"

I can't tell what I'm supposed to answer first. "Uh... I'm not in a faction, actually..." I offer, and to my surprise he relaxes some. I guess I shouldn't be too confused, since it makes sense he would feel more comfortable around someone not taking part in the faction war but just trying to make a living. At least, I guess that's what he thinks.

Shutting his eyes, he seems to be concentrating on something, but I can't tell what.

"What are you doing?" I ask him, unsure.

He opens his eyes to look at me again, what I think is slight fear etched onto his face. "Where are we? It's so.. quiet."

I'm worried I've been doing this whole conversation thing wrong. I mean, I've obviously talked to other ender before. But when I'm talking to them, they can get a clear picture of what I'm imagining, as well as being able to tell how I feel about it, and I can tell what they're thinking and feeling. I can't tell what this guy is thinking or feeling, and I'm lost. Nervously, I tug on a strand of my short, black hair. I had it cut short to keep it from getting in my way when I'm gliding, and so that it won't get tangled in the branches of the Chorus Trees when I'm out picking fruit.

"Quiet?" I ask. He gives me a strange look before his eyes almost seem to glaze over. I'm about to ask if he's okay when I feel a slight pressure in my mind. It's almost like when an ender is just barely within range, or when a patient is just waking up.

Putting a hand to my forehead, I look at him confused. "Did... was that you?" I highly doubted it, but you never know. I certainly didn't- I didn't even think I could use telepathy like normal humans did. I guessed it was a learned skill or maybe something that just came with practice. Even if it wasn't, I had never been able to try.

"Who are you? What are you?" He asked, suspicion edging his voice. His eyes glanced to the elytra on my back, the harness still around me."And where is this place?"

"Well, uh," I began, handing him the blanket which he took after a few moments of hesitation. "I'm Aurora, a human, like you. And this is my home, the End."

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Chapter written by Author 2

 **A/N: This is based of the Minecraft 1.9 update. It is not released officially, it is currently a snapshot. That out of the way... we're looking for OCs! Please submit enough information for us to make a complete character, and try to have them human. If we have any serious problems with them then we'll contact you or will add information not given (especially in the case of guest reviews.) Thanks~!**


	4. Lost

When we stopped for the night I practically fell of my horse. We had been riding since dawn, and hadn't stopped long enough for me to get off, just long enough for the horses to get a drink. Almost immediately, Dragon leapt off her horse and ran to my side, looking worried.

 _(Luna are you okay?! Do you need water?)_ she frantically asked me while one of the scouts, Rachel, assisted me in sitting up against an oak tree.

 _(W-water.)_ I mumbled dizzily, barely able to properly "speak." I felt as if my whole world was spinning. Dragon poured some water into my mouth until I began to cough up some of the water because I tried to breathe.

 _(Thanks.)_ I said, still woozy.

 _(No problem, it's my job_.) Dragon replied smiling. I was glad she came, without her we might have never gotten past the last five factions. I had forgotten the rule that med-bay personnel could travel across any faction land as long as they were on business, and the factions couldn't attack her. Well, they wouldn't if they wanted to avoid the wrath of other factions. Of course, it was also part of the law of the battlefield that you couldn't attack helpless healers, just trained warriors- although Dragon was far from helpless.

Since Dragon made me sit by the tree until shelters were ready I couldn't help set up. We had stopped in a forest of short, leafy trees, and were fencing off and clearing a small area to set up temporary shelters, which could be taken down in the morning.

In my dehydrated state I did something that wasn't exactly a good idea- I accidentally opened my mind to all humans. My hands flew to my head in pain as hundreds of voices shouted, seeming to be clamoring for my attention. While I could normally push them away easily enough, I was still a bit out of it.

Just because it was possible to hear everyone within 100,000 blocks at once didn't mean it was possible to understand them. Dragon saw me struggling to stay leaning upright against the tree and came rushing over. Then, she did something I had rarely seen her do- she spoke.

"Focus on my voice." she said out loud, surprising me. Very few humans spoke aloud, most of us used what we call the "chat" so this was very strange. Putting my all into focusing on her, the voices slowly began to fade until I heard a small voice- more of an echo, really. Not small as in the weak and soft voice of a child, but small as in quiet and hard to understand.

I went pale when I realized I recognized who's voice it was. It was… _Ryan!?_ I heard Ryan!

"Dragon, I think I heard Ryan!" I shouted- with my real voice.

 _(Really? Try and figure out where!)_ she said urgently, too frantic to bother continuing to speak aloud.

I focused on the quiet voice and soon enough I could understand it. Ryan was trying to talk to someone who couldn't use the chat- that was the echo I had heard, his voice bouncing off of a mental barrier.

I didn't know why he was doing so, just that he was trying to contact someone who had never opened themselves up to the chat. Normally, the abilities develop, at least weakly, by the time a child can read and write- did that mean he was talking to a little kid? Then, I heard something else- a buzzing that seemed familiar, but I couldn't quite place it. No, not quite a buzzing, but more like a warble.

Then I remembered where I had heard it before- it was the sound that you heard when you were around Enderman. Did that mean… Was it possible…?

"Dragon, I think he's in the End." I said quietly, "I heard an Enderman."

 _(The End?!)_ she practically shrieked. ( _But that's just a myth!)_

I shook my head. "People though the Nether was a myth too. But it isn't, is it?"

Her silence told me she knew I was right, and I continued. "Ryan was crafting something with ender pearls, remember? It's not a myth- he was using what he was making to find the portal. He was going to kill the Ender Dragon and take the egg!" I pause, racking my brain for what I knew about the End. Few people, if anyone, had ever been there and lived to tell the tale, and what we knew was limited because of this. Mostly, it was passed off as an old tale, and I hadn't bothered to learn much about it.

 _T(hen we have to help him!)_ she declared, ( _We have to get to the End!)_

At that I nodded and went back to trying to hear him. There were limits to our telepathy, and cross-dimensional communication was one of them. Although, since it was the echo and not his actual voice I was hearing, I might be able to communicate with him.

After a few minutes of no such luck, I tried to think of some ways we could find the stronghold- where, according to myth, there was a portal that lead to the End. Then I felt as if I had been slapped upside the head with a clue-by-four. I jumped up to my feet and ran over to my horse which had been tied up with the other horses. I pulled out of the pack on the saddle, several bones. I had saved up so much just so that I could tame a wolf, and make a dog.

I hurried over to an area away from the others and looked around for a wolf. Finding a small one nosing around the base of a tree, I snuck up behind it and grabbed it by the back of its neck.

Wolves were very docile creatures, and comfortable around humans. Except for the case that a pack attacks a herd of sheep or a flock of chickens, and are hunted down, they aren't usually a problem. Because of this, they are trusting around people who are more likely to feed the a piece of meat then stab them with a sword.

It tried to wiggle free, but I dangled the bones in it's face. He stared at them with his mouth wide open, mesmerized by my offer. I gave them to him and in a blinding light a colored collar appeared on his neck, signifying he was tamed. I patted him and turned to my search party who were staring at me as if I was nuts.

"In the morning he can sniff out Ryan, or at least where he went." I said, smiling. "I have that general badge thing he gave me. It should have his scent."

"Good idea Luna!" Dragon exclaimed.

I tied the dog to the fence that the horses were tied to, so he could scare off any monsters that showed up. As I walked away he tried to follow me, so I told him to sit. I had no intention of waking up to a dog licking my face, no matter how much it wanted to.

The area was lit, two scouts were on guard, and the shelters were all set up. I had the largest one being I am the general. I did, however, have to share my tent with Dragon, being she didn't grab another tent when she decided to tag along.

 _(Good night Dragon,)_ I said sleepily.

 _(Good night Luna_ ,) she replied, ( _We'll find Ryan in the morning.)_

 **~*Time Skip Time*~**

My eyes flew open at the first signs of dawn. I jumped out of bed, and went to check on the scouts, who had rotated a few hours ago so the ones on duty at dusk could get some sleep.

I looked around and spotted Rachel on top of a birch tree, staring down at me.

 _(Rachel,)_ I called to the scout, ( _how was the night?)_

 _It was really quiet. That dog of yours kept the skellys away,)_ she said, yawning.

(As if in reply, my dog barked at me from where he sat tied up. Rolling my eyes I saw a sheep between the trees. I pulled my iron sword from its sheath and crept up on the animal. It didn't know what hit it, but in an instant it was dead, so it didn't need to know anyway. Blood-stained wool and some raw meat were the only proof the carcass had been there when I was finished with it. I grabbed the meat and headed back to the camp, leaving the wool where it lay.

When I got back everyone was up and taking down the shelters. I walked over to my dog and gave him the piece of meat. He beamed at me, hoping for more.

"I don't have anymore." I said out loud so he would hear me. Dogs can't speak, but they can understand us. At least, it seems like they can.

His head dropped in sadness, but soon rose it when I held out my general badge Ryan had given me. He knew I'd never use it in our faction, but if you have an argument with a lone faction member, having a nice shiny medallion that says "General of Faction Gold" comes in handy. The dog sniffed it intently, soon after his head shot up to the right of where I was standing. He began to bark, and a smile formed on my face.

 _(He caught the scent!)_ I shouted. At that the outriders jumped onto their horses, and took the lead that my dog was on.

As the rest of us finished packing, they would be scouting the biomes that lay between us and Ryan. They returned a few minuted later with smiles.

 _(The dog is trying to lead us over a plain, this will be easy on the horses,)_ the outrider Carter said happily. ( _He's got a definite trail, one of the outriders has him on a leash to keep him from taking off without us.)_

I nodded to him, and leapt onto my horse. Once everyone was mounted, we set off with our hopes high. We were going to find our leader.

 **~*Timeskip to Underground*~**

We had been trying to navigate our way through the tunnels for at least a day before we found a small underground river. We all were relieved being we had run out of water yesterday. There were only five of us down here because a few had to stay with the horses, and keep an eye out for other factions.

Holding my torch in one hand to light up what I was doing, I filled up the glass bottles I had stowed away in my pack.

I glanced up from the river, and my heart skipped a beat. Holding my torch a bit higher so it reflected on the dark cave walls, I was able to get a glimpse of something that wasn't just regular stone. Could it… was it…? Silently I stood up, and took off my boots, holding them in one hand. I then proceeded to wade through the river, despite the fact that it was freezing cold, having come from a source deep underground.

 _(Luna?)_ Dragon called after me in confusion.

Before me was a piece of cracked stone bricks against the stone and gravel wall. My hands brushed over it in shock. I grabbed a picaxe out of my pack and hit it hard against the stone. Again, I swung, and again, watching it chip and cracks fill it. It finally broke, and before me I could see the glow of lava, and hear the crackling of fire.

 _(I found the Stronghold! I found it!)_ I called back to the others who had come to join me at my side. I smashed the stone below it so we could get through.

Slowly we crept through the Stronghold, every so often having to kill a Silverfish. I was on edge, having sworn on numerous occasions I could hear the sound of an Enderman, or seen their glowing eyes in the dark corners of the room. It would make sense they protected the portal to their home, didn't it. Even so, it seemed I was the only one to witness this, and so I kept quiet as we continued on.

The stronghold was a maze- stairs led into stone ceilings, corridors to solid walls. The condition wasn't much better, either. A broken fountain was still managing to spew water all over the ground, and the floor had collapsed beneath us at one point. Luckily, no one was hurt.

We had found an abandoned library, stocked with books of all sorts but not having the time or patience to read all of them. I had grabbed a few for later study, and they felt heavy in my bag. Or maybe it was just the crushing pressure that we wouldn't make it in time for Ryan.

Then, we came to one point where instead of the rooms being lined with doors leading to more doors, the corridor narrowed out into a solid path. Continuing down this way, we came to the place we had been searching for- the portal room. When I saw the portal I shouted in joy, knowing that we'd find Ryan. I ran up to the portal ready to fight the Ender Dragon from the legends, but nothing could have prepared me for what I saw. The portal was broken. A piece of the frame was gone, rendering it useless. Someone, or something had come along and destroyed it.

 _(No…)_ I said feeling tears forming in the corners of my eyes as I fell to my knees on the stone stairs.

 _(There's nothing we can do now….It's broken. Let's go home.)_ Dragon said putting her hand on my shoulder.

I almost said I wasn't leaving. Not only because I hoped to find Ryan, but that if I returned I would become the faction leader. I knew I was suppose to lead in the first place, but I had spent too long as second in command. I would be the one to appoint ranks, to deal with our allies and our enemies. I- I wasn't sure I was ready for this.

 _(I'm coming,)_ I said sadly, defeated. I stood, and walked away. It was all for nothing...

But still, an inkling of worry dug its way into my mind. Was it possible… since this was the portal to the End… that it was the ender that had destroyed the portal?

What was really in the End?

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Chapter written by Author 1, edited by Author 2


	5. Healing

Aurora's POV

"The… End?" He asked frantically looking around, his eyes landing on an open window. Sure enough, outside lay the deep purple sky filled with thousands upon thousands of twinkling stars.

"I went through a portal in the overworld to get here… but I didn't realize… I thought it- it didn't work..." He seems at a loss for words, but I can't tell why. Didn't all humans know about the End? Sure, the portal was hidden away in a maze of a stronghold deep underground, but that was just to keep people out.

"Well, of course the portal worked. Why wouldn't it?" I asked.

His only response was to set the bundled up blanket back on the bed before swinging his legs to the side, about to stand. It was at that point that I noticed the small spots of blood on one of his pant's leg, a bandage peeking out at the ankle of his shoeless feet.

I was about to call out for him not to stand when he did exactly that, and just about fell over too. At least, he fell backwards into the bed with a cry of pain. Hissing between his teeth, he looked down and began to roll up the pant's leg, assessing the damage. The bandage was the typical soft purple that came from the newest and youngest fibers in a Chorus tree, unlike the black fabric I wore that was from the outermost layer of wood in the mature tree. No matter the colour, I could still see that it was spotted with bright red blood, and looked painful.

One time, when I was younger, I broke my ankle when I landed on the ground wrong. That had hurt, and it hurt a lot- but this looked like it might be worse. I mean, when I had hurt myself I was bedridden for weeks, and I couldn't fight to be allowed to do anything because it hurt when I tried to stand on it. Sure, that was when I had discovered my fascination with the Overworld, as well as my love of reading, but that didn't make it any more enjoyable.

Looking at his injury, I still had to wince. It looked like he had been clawed all along the leg- although he may have also been shot there. I couldn't tell because it was mostly covered by either the wrapping or his pant's leg. Still, he wouldn't be walking comfortably for a while.

He groaned in frustration as he examined his injury. It seemed like he had reached the same conclusion I had.

"So you figured out you won't be walking well for a while then?" I asked.

He looked over at me before just sighing and rolling his pant's leg back down over the injury. "Yes, it does seem that way, doesn't it?"

I followed his gaze as he turned his head to look out the window once more. Argh, it was so difficult telling what he was thinking when I couldn't feel every emotion he had radiating from him.

Desperate to make something, anything happen, I looked for a way to start conversation. "Um… are you hungry at all? I could get you something," I offered.

He turned his head to look back at me uneasily, warily even. That, at least, was expected considering the situation. "I've got some food in my bag, actually. Would you mind getting it for me? Did it even make it here with me?"

I quickly scanned the room, searching for any form of belongings. It would make sense they brought his stuff with him, and even if they didn't it could very well be somewhere below us. But- there. Out of his view, being propped up against a little bedside table, was a backpack. It was logical to assume it belonged to him, so I stepped over to pick it up.

"This is your bag, right?" I asked, and was given a nod in reply. Holding it in both hands, I brought it over to him and set it down on the bed. Immediately, he began to dig through it.

"Wait- where's my sword?!" He nearly yelled, eyes darting to the floor as if it had fallen. I had used a sword before. Not on other ender, obviously, but for chores. One of the things I had to do was help scrape shulkers off the walls. Shulkers were purple, shelled creatures. Using the sword I was given, I would wait until they opened their shells to look around before I wedged it in there and killed the slimy thing inside. It wasn't as disgusting as it sounded, really, but it was still tough work.

"Uh, I- I don't know." I answered. "Your sword and stuff is probably stashed somewhere downstairs. There's storage rooms where patient's stuff is stored-"

"What do you mean patients? Is this a hospital or something?" He was still a bit freaked out, but not as much as when he thought his sword was gone forever.

"Well, not exactly. It's a med-based homestead-" I began, before being cut off.

"That's a hospital. Right?" Didn't I just say it was different?

I sighed. "Don't humans know anything about the End? A homestead is an island that specializes in something, like-."

He crossed his arms. "No, actually. The End is regarded as a myth to humans. I just explored the myths to see if they were true."

"Oh." I felt like an idiot. I may have spent hours learning everything about the Overworld, but that didn't mean everyone had the same fascination with other dimensions as I did.

"So, uh, you said you were hungry, right? You eat, and I'll get some more bandages from downstairs for your leg, and I'll see if I can find your sword. Don't go anywhere, Okay? Um, right."

I ran out the door, hearing him call after me in a sarcastic voice. "Where am I going to go? For a walk? Because if you haven't forgotten I'm kinda unable to walk and in a place crawling with mobs that could kill me!" Ignoring him, I jumped off of the walkway, feeling the air gather beneath my elytra as I glided downwards in a tight spiral.

 **~*Time Skip Time*~**

I ran up the spiral staircase that lead to the where my room, and the human guy's was.

In my arms was a roll of the same kind of bandage that was around his leg, as well as a few Chorus fruit I had grabbed for myself to snack on. I had found his things- some armor, a shield, and his oh-so-precious sword, but I couldn't carry all of it on me, so I had to settle for guaranteeing that his stuff was perfectly safe downstairs.

Hopping up the last few steps, I was about to head right into his room when I paused for a moment. Turning around, I dashed over into my own bedroom and grabbed my book about the Overworld.

Balancing everything in my arms, I cautiously backed out before breaking into a sprint, going around the corner once more and practically sliding into his room, earning a strange look from him. He was sitting up, and had spread some of his belongings out on his bed before him.

"Welcome back," he said simply before turning back to his task. Most of the items were stuffed back into his bag before I could get a chance to figure out what they were, but he didn't put it all away. Left on his bed was something red and charred, sitting on a thin piece of what I though was wood, as well as two glass vials.

"What is all of that?" I asked, pointing to the items.

"You seriously don't know?" He responded confusedly.

"I- I don't know." I mumbled. He shook his head and motioned to one of the glass vials.

"This is water. It's something people drink," he said.

I looked at the other. It was filled with something that was a light pink. "Is that some kind of fruit juice?" I wondered aloud.

"I'll show you in a minute," was his answer. Finally, he picked up the red thing. "This is called food. You eat it."

I rolled my eyes at this particularly sarcastic answer. "I know what food is. I want to know what kind of food it is." Examining it closer, I could tell it was some kind of meat. "This is from an animal, right? Those black and white things… um..." I was quiet for a few moments, the name of the animal on the tip of my tongue.

He nodded at my description and bit into it, chewing slowly. After setting down the roll of bandages as well as the book on the bed, I leaned up against the wall, about to dig into one of the fruits in my hands.

"A cow!" I exclaimed. "That's what it is!" He swallowed, then turned to look up at me.

"Did it take you that long to figure it out? What, have you never seen a cow before or something?"

"Well," I admitted, "No, actually. I mean, not that I remember at least."

"Oh." he replied. There, it was his turn to feel like an idiot. Going back up to his bed, I picked the book back up and began to flip through it. Getting to the animals section, which I had bookmarked, I turned to the page with a cow on it. The picture was a bit smudgy, but the writing was clear enough. Turning it around so he could see it, I proudly showed it off.

"Don't worry, I know plenty about cows even if I haven't seen them." He squinted to see the individual words, as the print was fairly small. If course, I doubted he could read all of it. While the book was written in the human's language, I had scratched notes on the sides of the page in runes- an old language, and the one adopted by the ender, so naturally I had learned it.

"Huh. So everything you know about the overworld is from a dusty old book?" He asked, setting his food down.

I nodded, slightly offended. He seemed to realize this, and quickly amended with a "No, the book is fine, it's just interesting how you've been learning from it."

I just shrugged. "It's fine. Now, uh, if you're not going to finish eating, could I take a look at your leg?"

"I can do it, it's fine. Nothing too severe, I'm sure."

I didn't think that how in pain he sounded when he tried to walk on it exactly suggested it wasn't very severe, but I didn't push it. Sure, I was technically a medic, but maybe he was experienced with this kind of injury.

"Okay," I finally agreed, "But if it looks bad I'll go get something to put on it."

He nods, before rolling up his pant's leg once again. Moving to stand beside him, I watch as he carefully peels off the bandage, and I wince. What looks like deep knife cuts cover his leg, along with one long, messy gash. Fortunately, most of the blood has dried, and his leg is bleeding very little, but that doesn't make it any more pleasant to look at.

"There were a lot of mobs in the stronghold," he explains, "And a silverfish had latched onto my leg. Those little buggers are covered in razor-sharp spines and have a bite like nobody's business."

I'm about to tell him that I'm going to go get some medicine, and possible some pain medication from downstairs when he grabs the bottle of pink liquid that he had sitting on his bed and begins to uncap it. It was the one he hadn't told me about.

Carefully, he pours a little on his leg before spreading it around with his free hand. To my astonishment, the smallest cuts begin to heal themselves, with light pink flesh replacing the bloody cuts, and the larger ones start to scab over.

"Oh! It's a healing potion!" I knew about those, at least a little bit.

"Yeah," he replies. "There isn't enough of it to completely heal my leg, especially since it isn't very strong. It was my last one, too. But as least I can move my leg without it hurting too much."

"I can get you some pain medication, if you'd like," I offer him.

He shakes his head. "No, it's fine. Just… my leg, I still don't think I can walk on it."

Yeah, no kidding. It looks like your leg was shredded. "I can probably get you a crutch or something like that." Handing him the roll of clean bandages, he proceeds to wrap them around his leg.

"So, when are you going to kill me?" He asks. "Or are you just going to keep me here for the fun of it?"

I reel back, confused. "I'm not going to kill you. You're the first person I've ever talked to!"

He raises an eyebrow at me. "So you're going to keep me here then? So you can have someone to talk to?"

I huff, annoyed. I wasn't going to do anything to him. I wasn't sure if the ender would even want him to stay in the first place.

"No, you're going to be carted back to the Overworld as soon as you're well again. And I'm going to stay here."

" _Are you so sure about that?_ " I whirled around, seeing an enderman looming above me. I hadn't sensed him there, being as I was so distracted. How long he was there?

Looking over my shoulder, I saw the human with his eyes squeezed shut, to stop himself from looking at the enderman. I guessed it made sense that he was scared to accidentally provoke the enderman, since if humans really didn't know much about the End like he said, he wouldn't know how to properly act. Either way, I glanced back at the enderman, waiting for him to speak as I gave off a confused thought in his direction.

" _What do you mean?_ " I was now speaking in the ender language, which I suppose made our conversation private since the human couldn't understand us.

" _He's pretty badly injured, but obviously eager to get home. We can send him back sooner, but he'll need an escort back to his home once he gets back to the Overworld, to protect him."_

 _"_ _Do you mean…?"_

 _"_ _Yes, Aurora. You'll be going to the Overworld."_

* * *

Chapter written by Author 2


	6. Rescue

Luna's POV

The trek out of the tunnels seemed shorter than our journey down. Most people say that time flies when you're having fun, but I was still caught in a hanging cloud of despair, and I suppose that sort of numbed me for most of the way. I had never thought about what we'd do if we couldn't find Ryan… I guess I was just hoping for the best.

When we reached the surface we were greeted by the rest of our team.

 _(How'd it go?)_ Rachel asked hopefully as she scanned us, looking for Ryan.

I chose not to answer her, but instead silently climbed onto my horse with a blank expression plastered onto my face, to hide the emotional pain that coursed through me.

I turned away from the search party, looking towards the mountains… Home. Well, not quite. Home was a bit further, but that was the general direction, and it was something I could hold onto for the moment.

 _(Luna!?)_ Dragon called after me as I suddenly took off. I had to get away, it was too much- the loss of our leader and my newfound position, the discovery of the End portal… Behind me, I could hear my dog whimpering pitifully as I left it behind with the rest of the group. Knowing it would end up at the faction eventually, I shook my head and gritted my teeth as I pushed onward. I galloped towards the mountains, veering away once the slope began to grow steeper and the trees thinned. I wasn't quite ready to head back to the base, not yet.

I ended up in the forest where I had tamed my dog, and we had spent the night not too long ago. I slowed down from a gallop, to a trot, and finally to a walk as I entered the forest of low trees, some oak, some birch. I found the remnants of our camp and jumped off my horse, but kept it on a lead so it wouldn't wander off. I looked around not knowing why in the worlds I came here. Slowly, I picked my way through the campsite- the only things that remained of our stay was the ashes in the fire pit and the flattened grass from our tents.

In the now fading light, a shine of gold caught my eye. Kneeling down, I felt around for what I had seen. I realized with a shock that it was my General medallion Ryan had given me. I must have dropped it when I tried to get the dog to catch his scent. I picked it up quickly, and remembering when he gave it to me… It was about three years ago, wasn't it? I had never really thought about how long it had been.

Falling to my knees, I felt my eyes prickling with tears. We were close friends, and knowing that he was gone, knowing I'd have to step up and fill his place… I wasn't prepared for this.

The sound of horse steps pounding against the earth caught my attention as I slipped the medallion around my neck, and tucked it into my shirt, feeling the cool metal on my skin. Wiping away the tears I didn't even realize had fallen, I stood and turned to face whomever had come after me.

 _(Are you okay? You just ran off...)_ Rachel asked me. I glanced around at the surrounding forest, the shadows between trees gradually growing longer, but didn't see the rest of the group.

 _(Where are the others?)_ I asked, my voice slightly strained, intentionally avoiding her question.

 _(They were heading towards the mountains, thinking you went that way. I came back here because I had my doubts.)_ She said as she slid off her horse with her hand still on its muzzle.

 _(I guess we should catch up…)_ I said slowly, not too eager to be going back to them so soon after my little run off but knowing I had a duty to fulfill.

 _(Yeah, we should meet up before dark, and that's soon_.) She replied as she climbed onto her horse as I did the same.

We rode in silence until I got tired of the quiet world, so I did something I rarely did, desperate to break the monotony.

"You seem pretty good at riding." I commented aloud, and she flinched in surprise.

"Um… Yeah I use to be in a horse-based faction," she said, not looking at me. Although I couldn't see her face, I did see her straighten up some. Taking this as a sign of pride, I pushed onward.

"As in our allies Horse faction?"

"Yep."

"Wait, wasn't Dragon in a horse based faction too?" I asked. Did they know each other? I remembered that they had joined our faction only a few days apart- the story was something along the lines of her getting caught up and was… wasn't she injured when she first came crawling into faction territory?

"Yeah, we were in it together. We, uh, left at the same time." she said frowning. So, they did leave together, but were split up somewhere along the way.

"Why'd you leave?" I asked. "The faction is a pretty strong one, and you are pretty good with animals. I mean, that faction is more about livestock farming than our own, deep underground and focused on mining."

"I'm not ready to talk about my past…" she said cooly. Not in a hostile way, like she had something to hide, but suggesting she wasn't up for it, that I was digging too deep.

"Sorry I didn't mean to push you." I apologized.

 _(It's not your fault,)_ she said switching back to the chat.

I spotted silhouettes of people on horses, and slowed down some, knowing it was the search party. Rachel saw my face and knew I was scared… Who wouldn't be, when coming back after running off to who knows where. It might be taken as weakness, or the need to come. Who knew?

 _(You'll be fine,)_ she said smiling. I looked at her and felt confident. I realized I didn't know much about the scout that had been a part of our faction for years. I looked into her eyes and saw a painful past…

I was about to ask her about what Dragon was like, but the healer herself came galloping up to us.

 _(Why'd you run off!?)_ she asked, worry evident in her eyes.

 _(I needed to think,)_ I replied nonchalantly, looking back towards the forest.

 _(Are you okay?)_ she asked with concern.

 _(Yeah, I'm fine_ ,) I lied, being that I was not fine at all. In fact, I was the opposite of "fine."

 _(Hey, set up camp!_ ) Rachel directed the other members of the group. I hadn't realized how tired I was. We hadn't stopped for long while we were in the caves searching for the stronghold.

I took a few moments to lay down on my back, on a bare rock. Staring up at the stars, as I processed all that had happened. The scouts had set up the tents while the outriders tended to the horses. They didn't need my help at the moment, so I stayed out of the way.

A small part of me was convinced this was all a dream, a big nightmare. That I was still in the Gold faction in my small, stone and wood room, and Ryan was already up, setting patrols and stuff like that. To my great disappointment, I knew it was real.

I stood up on top of the rock in hope of spotting the mountain range we lived on, but no such luck. I scanned over the plains that lay stretched before me, simple and flat, but something caught my eyes. A large group of monsters seemed to be chasing someone. Looking harder, it appeared to be a young woman. She had a bow in hand and a quiver strapped to her back,, and looked to be on her own- was there a chance she without a faction? No matter what, she was in danger, and if we didn't do anything fast, she might not make it… she wasn't able to shoot when so many mobs were hot on her tail.

 _(Hey Rachel, Dragon, I think someone needs help!)_ I called to them, frantically.

They ran to my side, seeing the woman running- although it was quickly getting harder to see her, as the very least rays of the sun were now gone, and the moon was new..

 _(On it,)_ Rachel said, focused and ready for battle. She waved her hand and an archer joins us. Hopping on our horses, we blew down the slight slope towards her. As the archer prepared to fire, Rachel, Dragon, and I, along with an outrider or two headed down the hill towards the mobs. I pulled my sword from its sheath, ready to stab it deep into the nearest monster.

And that was exactly what I did- I swung my sword and made sure the sharp blade cut deep into the rotten flesh of the nearest zombie. Nearly decapitating it with one strong swipe, I whirled my head around and was greeted to an arrow narrowly missing my face. That wasn't good…

There was just too many mobs, and they were surrounding us. Seeing the woman nearly disappear from the sheer amount of monsters around her, I urged my horse forward. Grabbing her arm and tugging her onto the back of my horse. She was breathing heavily, but immediately grabbed onto my shoulder for support as I my horse shot away from the battle scene, narrowly making it out of range of a creeper's blast.

 _(I got her! Now run, back to camp!)_ Charging off, we jumped over the small fence that had been temporarily set up. Behind us, various mobs were pressing against it, trying to break it down and kill us.

 _(T- thank you…)_ She said weakly, before collapsing against me.

Immediately, Dragon ran over, and heaved the woman off my horse. Jumping down, I helped the strange women stand- she wasn't unconscious, but weak and tired. Who knows how long she was running for? Her cloak brushed against me, and her quiver of arrows had fallen somewhere on the ground behind us.

Assisting her in getting over to the tent I was sharing with Dragon, I sat her down on my own sleeping bag. I didn't mind, and since Dragon was the head medic, she would need to treat the women. It wasn't like she had escaped unscathed- she was covered with shallow cuts, whether from the shrapnel of a creeper's explosion, or maybe the dirty fingernails of a zombie or the fangs of a spider. A dark blood spot was beginning to form on her torso.

"Banishing" the scouts gathered at the tent's flap back to the fire, I shut it tightly and turned back to Dragon, who had already began to cut away the woman's shirt, and part of her undershirt, still leaving her modestly clothed. ( _Get me bandages and a healing potion. I really strong one. And a piece of puffer fish for anesthetic,)_ she told me.

Suddenly thankful she had chosen to come with us, I rushed over to her bag and fished out the items.

 _(Here,)_ I handed them to her.

 _(Eat this. It'll help make the pain go away some,)_ Dragon told her, holding it up to the woman's mouth.

Weakly, she pushed Dragon's arm away. ( _I don't want anything messing with my head. I can tough it out,)_ she said, gritting her teeth.

Sighing, but needing to get to work, Dragon didn't argue and began to uncork the healing potion. ( _Put some on the smaller cuts on her arms, I'll deal with this one,)_ she instructed.

Dragon poured some of the healing potion into my cupped hands. Carefully, so as not to waste any, I began to spread it over her injuries. ( _Your skin… it's grey…)_ I mumbled, confused.

 _(Left over… b- body paint…)_ she managed to get out. So it was for camouflage then. That was pretty smart, actually.

I glanced over at the wound on her side, which Dragon was still working on. She had managed to stop the bleeding and clean the wound, and parts of it were scabbing over. I noticed that the woman's face was less contorted- it made sense, the healing potion had a very mild numbing sensation. Not enough to stop the pain, of course, but it was the best we could do with our known medicines.

 _(What's your name?)_ I asked her once she seemed able to talk clearly.

 _(I'm… Naomi,)_ she finally said. ( _But I don't normally go by it_.)

That was normal enough. ( _But what were you doing out there with all the mobs chasing you?)_ I asked her.

Well, she began, sounding slightly embarrassed. ( _I was sitting in a tree looking, and I got stuck there when a bunch of mobs started surrounding me. I fell off the branch I was on, and I guess you know the rest_.)

She brushed her black hair out of her eyes. In the soft light of the tent, it almost had a blue tint to it, as well as making her eyes shine slightly.

She winced as she touched her side injury. I wasn't surprised, it certainly looked painful. ( _T- thank you for rescuing me.)_

I nodded. ( _We wouldn't leave anyone to die a death like that, even if are were from another faction. Speaking of that, you are…?)_

She shrugged. _Factionless. I get along better when it's just me and the world._

It wasn't too rare for someone to have that mindset, and I had to respect it. I didn't know why she was out on that tree when the sun was setting, but I just chalked it up to being a mistake. After all, I had no reason to suspect her.

* * *

Chapter written by Author 1, finished off by Author 2


	7. Portal

Aurora's POV

Grasping the tough sticks in my hands, I was running back up the steps to the tower. Just another good thing about living at the highest point of the entire building- I was actually fairly fit, from running up it several times a day.

After I explained the options to the human- either stay here until he healed, or let me accompany him to the Overworld as added protection until he got back to his faction- he had chosen, after some thought, to return to the Overworld sooner.

Let me tell you, I was just about to burst in excitement. It's been over ten years since I'd last been to the Overworld, and back then I was too young to remember it anyway. I was worried that the human would have wanted to stay instead, but as it turned out, he was more than eager to return- even if it meant dealing with me. Not that I was cuckoo or anything, just that, in his words, I was interested in everything from the Overworld. Ha, and the ender called it a phase…

Either way, he wanted to try and make a brace for his leg, since he still couldn't walk on it. Hopefully he hadn't gotten a permanent limp from it, he definitely seemed like the type to go charging around a lot.

Hopping up the last few stairs, my elytra opened slightly as I practically flew around the corner. Slowing my pace as I got to his room, I knocked on the stone wall before bursting through the curtained entrance.

I held up the sticks. "Here we are, I got them!"

Nodding in acknowledgement, he put his hand out, and I handed them over. "Okay," he began, "so I'm going to try and create a kind of brace for my leg." He threw back the blanket covering him from the waist down, and stretched out his leg, wincing slightly.

"Since I don't have very good materials I'll have to just make due with this…" he mumbled somewhat as he said this. Positioning the sticks around his leg, he took the bandages from earlier in his hands and started to tightly wrap the make-shift brace so that it would stay put.

"It's not going to be very comfortable, I won't be able to bend my leg, and it'll be a pain to take off, but at least it's something." he said to me once he was done. "It might work better to have a crutch to lean on, but I'm not sure if that's the best thing to do. Whatever we end up with, we're going to have a hard time once we're back in the Overworld."

I frowned. He was right- while I knew a lot about the dangers of the Overworld, he knew more. If he was worried, then I definitely had my reasons to be too. Of course, there was always the chance he just didn't think I could handle anything we faced. It's be helpful if he could walk some.

"Wait, er, I'll be right back!" I said, twisting around and breezing right back out the door. Because of the way this tower was designed, the center stalk was like a crossroad. Jumping across this "crossroad," I whisked into the storage room. It was pretty messy, mostly filled with random items that were hardly ever used, or even broken, therefore landing it a spot up here. But where…?

Ah, yes, here it was. A pair of broken crutches had been brought up here not to long ago. One of them was snapped to bits, and I honestly didn't know why it hadn't been tossed off the island long ago. The other one wasn't in as bad condition- it was snapped about a third of the way down, to short for an adult enderman, but fine for, say, a human.

Tucking it back under my arm, I excited the storage room, and made my way back into his room. Geez, I was doing a lot of back and forth running today.

"I got a crutch, for you to lean on." I explained, handing it back off to him.

"Thanks… er, sorry, what was your name again?"

"Aurora."

"Alright. I'm Ryan."

I nodded. "Okay, Ryan."

 **~*Time Skip Time*~**

So this was it… tomorrow, I'd be heading to the Overworld. I'd probably only be there for a day or two, since as soon as we got there he'd probably telepathically send a message to his faction, and they'd come get him. Still, I'd make sure to use that time I had to see as much as I could. We'd probably just set up a campsite or something, but I could still see all of the plants and animals. If I was really lucky, it might rain before I had to leave.

I was already dressed in my pyjamas, getting ready for bed. Although there wasn't any day or night here in the End, most of us slept during the time that it would be considered day in the Overworld. Ryan didn't protest when I said that I was going to bed and he should to, so I wasn't going to bother him about it.

I had already closed both the window curtains and the drapes serving as my door, as well as covering up the end rods, which were little glowing cylinders that provided light to my bedroom. In short, my room was dark and silent.

It's not like he was going to try and escape or anything. Where would he even go? He couldn't walk very well, since he had to lean onto the crutch, not to mention he was in pain, and was on an island floating in nothingness.

I flopped down onto my bed, staring up at the ceiling, which was made of End stone. Looking up at the ceiling above me, I could see the map I had stuck up there a while ago. It was partially hidden in the shadows, but I could still make out the main outlines. It was outdated, obviously, and the faction borders were very different now. On the northernmost side of the map was a large mountain range, with two little factions side by side, crushed into the corner.

A river cut through the center of the map, probably leading to a sea at some point. Along it there were little marks in the human's language, detailing spots like "good for fishing" and "trade area."

Finally, on the lowermost portion of the map, was what I thought to be a large plains area. There were a few factions down there, and they were probably all allied with each other at the time this was made- I wouldn't be too surprised if they actually were, since they were all farming based factions.

Shutting my eyes, I wanted to drift away into sleep, but I just couldn't. It felt like I was tingling in anticipation.

"Go to sleep." I said quietly to myself. "You've got a big day ahead. You're going to need your rest. Just, go to sleep…"

Frowning, I sat up. Nope, I wouldn't be getting to bed quite yet. It just wasn't happening.

Swinging my legs over the edge of my bed, I stood up and stretched. A breath of fresh air wouldn't hurt anyone.

I reached over to snag my elytra from their hook on the wall before stepping outside. Standing on the walkway, I began to strap it on in the familiar pattern. One leg, two leg, shoulder, shoulder, stomach… and there I was. The elytra had to be secure enough that I had no chance of falling out during a maneuver.

About to jump, I made on last check that I was secured in. Satisfied, I took a deep breath, and-

"I thought you were going to bed?"

I froze and turned, seeing the human- er, Ryan, casually leaning on his new crutch, an eyebrow raised.

"Well, sorry, but I couldn't sleep. So- uh, I just came out to get some air."

"And neither could I, so here we are. I'm not used to sleeping when it should be day."

I rolled my eyes. "Well, we'll be heading to the Overworld around dawn in your time, anyway."

He shrugged. Shaking my head, I took a step back. As expected, my foot fell upon open air, as the walkways didn't have guardrails.

"Aurora!" He gasped out as I fell backward, lunging forward to grab my nightshirt. Laughing to myself, I pinwheeled my arms before falling backwards, out of his reach.

I could see the horror in his eyes as I went over the edge, falling in open air for a second or two before I was able to right myself. My elytra snapped open automatically, yanking on my harness before catching my in the air- I was gliding.

See, this was what I meant when I said I needed to get some air. I meant launching myself off of a balcony, scaring the living daylights out of only other human in the End.

I breathed out a sigh of relief as I began to turn in a large, lazy spiral. It was a shame I couldn't really fly, only glide, but hey, I was going to take what I could get- and this was far more than most Overworld humans would get. I was glad that it was around the time most ender would already be asleep. I was fairly close to one of the med wings, and except for the slight inkling of the consciousness of one or two staff who were tending to patients, it was fairly quiet.

I glanced upwards, seeing him staring down with a look of complete shock and fear on his face- right before he saw me gliding. "Hey!" I jokingly called up to him.

"What are you doing?!" He yelled back. "And how?!"

I rolled my eyes, coming to rest on the walkway just below us. I wasn't breathing heavily or anything like that, since the elytra did all the work- I was just along for the ride.

Practically skipping up the steps, my elytra closed again, just as they should. Back at the top, I faced a rather flustered Ryan. "Why, hello!" I greeted him.

He sighed and shook his head. "You're a strange person, I must say. In the Overworld, if someone falls from a height like this, they die. That's it. And here, you manage to make it a game. No, scratch that- you manage to make a device that lets you fly from it."

"Actually, this only lets me glide. We call it elytra, and it's made for disabled ender, who can't teleport."

He shrugged, still a bit shaken, and turned away. "Considering I actually thought you had fallen, and I practically got a heart attack from it, I think I'll turn in right about now, actually. Yeah, that sounds good."

I laughed and ran my fingers through my wind-blown hair. So gullible, despite being, what, seven years older than me? He looked to be about that age, although I couldn't really tell.

Using his crutch to support him, he made his way in a fairly slow manner back to where his room was. The short flight had really only served to exhilarate me more, and keep me from sleep, but hey, it had totally been worth it.

I nudged my way through the drapes around my door once more, coming back into my darkened room.

Loosening the straps around my shoulders, I didn't even bother with the others as I simply wiggled out of the harness. Lightly tossing the gliding contraption against the wall near my door, I could hear it fall onto the ground with a dull 'thud.'

Jumping into my bed, the flexible wood made it bend slightly with a bit of a creaking sound. Pulling my blankets back over me, I did my best to fall into slumber, despite the adrenaline now seeping through me.

 _I coughed, sitting up in my bed. What was happening? I- I couldn't breath, something was in my mouth, making my eyes water. It smelled like… was it…?_

 _The house was on fire. Gagging, I rolled out of bed and fell to the carpeted floor, which was already grey. Soon enough, it would be charcoal black, just like I would be if I didn't get out of here soon._

 _Feeling my way along the wall, I crawled along the floor, desperately needing clean air. Beside me, a portion of the wall collapsed, sending dust swirling around with the smoke. I gasped in shock, feeling burning splinters embed themselves in my skin. It hurt, it hurt so badly…_

 _There! Was that the door? I felt at it, finding the doorknob searing to my touch. I cried out and pulled away, only to my mouth filled with the smoke and dust filling my house. I didn't want to die here. No, I wanted to live._

 _Feeling tears beginning to run down my face, I tried the knob again- only to find it was locked._

 _I ran my hands along the walls, feeling my palms burning, slowly becoming unable to think. In a last ditch effort to escape, I began hammering at the walls, my little five-year-old hands pounding against them. I wouldn't be making it this time, would I?_

I bolted awake, gasping for clean, smokeless air. It was that same nightmare again. At least, I thought it was a nightmare. I looked down at my hands, half expecting to see them twisted and burnt. But they were fine.

Knowing I wouldn't get any more sleep after this, as I never did after one of these nightmares, I chose to just go ahead and start packing.

In all honestly, I wasn't sure what to bring exactly. What does one bring when going to another dimension?

First things first, elytra. I grabbed them from where they had landed earlier, and set them on my bed. Okay, one thing down. What next?

Food. That one was definitely important. Snagging a few chorus fruit from a basket I had on my desk (so I could snack without having to go downstairs), I set them beside my elytra. On a second thought, I took a few more, just in case.

Looking around my room, I pondered what else I needed. I thought about taking my book, but it was bulky. I wouldn't have any time for reading anyway, not when I would be sightseeing.

Grabbing two changes of clothes, as well as a blanket, I set them with the other items. A few other things after that- a hairbrush, a small end rod… stepping back to admire what I had set out, I had to feel a certain amount of pride. I had gotten everything ready in practically no time at all.

After changing into my day clothes, tying my shoes, brushing my hair… getting ready in general, I went back to the pile I had set. I needed to be pretty light if I wanted to be able to fly with my elytra.  
I'd need a way to carry everything… oh! I had it. The basket I used for picking fruit was sitting by my doorway. Picking it up, I then dropped it on the floor at the foot of my bed with a soft "thunk," proceeding to dump everything from my bed, minus the elytra, of course, into it.

I tested the weight of the basket. It wasn't too bad, I could definitely fly with it and it wouldn't be too bad to haul over long distances. Good enough for me. Now to wake Ryan.

Dashing over to his room, I stood outside the closed drapes, practically buzzing in excitement. I pounded on the stone wall outside his 'door,' knowing that humans often did this when they wanted to announce their presence. Ender could sense when you were there, but that was just another way they were different.

"Y- yeah?" I heard him mumble after about a minute, pushing open the curtains. He was still in the same clothes as before, but his hair was sloppy and messy, sticking up in wild directions.

"C'mon and get ready, we're leaving soon. We're going to need to get to the central island so we can use the portal-"

"Got it." He replied sleepily. Nodding, I turned away from the door to double check if there was anything else I needed to bring. The blanket was pretty big, and waterproof, so I could sleep in a tree or something if it was flooding and the ground was all squishy. Although, I'd probably need to get a new one because this one would be awfully messed up.

On that note- a bedroll. I had the blanket, I could grab a flattish mattress or something else to lay on I could roll up, and put it in with my blanket. Yes, that'd work good. It'd be easier to carry as well.

Oh, and some pain pills. Ryan said he didn't need them but you never knew.

 **~*Time Skip*~**

The way from the homesteads, which were the outer islands of the End, to the central island was simple. There were twenty separate islands, which we called the welcoming islands,there were used for teleporting from one to another. Getting Ryan there was the tough part, but things got easier from there. I excitedly tugged on one of my elytra straps, swinging the basket I had in one hand.

"All you have to do if put your hand in the portal, then it will send you to the corresponding one on the central island." I explained. He nodded slowly, reaching out towards it.

In one swift move, I practically dunked my arm into the blackness, and within an instant I was somewhere else- the central island. It was awe-inspiring, it really was. Towering obsidian pillars rose to meet the sky, all surrounding the portal. I began to make my way down the steps, then along the path leading to the portal.

I heard a 'whoosh,' and a second later, Ryan appeared over up at where he had teleported to, looking around confusedly.

"Over here!" I called out to him. He scanned the area before his eyes met mine. Cautiously, he began to make his way over to where I was. He was clad in his armor once again, although the chestplate was all he could manage because of his injury. I had reassured him that the ender would return the rest of his things, but that was for a later time.

A near-deafening roar came from the skies above us, and I went into a bow as it's origin came to hover above us at the portal, wings flapping and blowing our hair back.

It was the Ender Dragon, a large beast that protected the ender from any attack from mobs of the Overworld.

He was our king- he protected us, led us, kept the ender in harmony… the list went on. It was for this reason that I was bowing so low in deep respect. Formally, I wasn't to straighten up until he bowed back. But why wasn't he..? Oh.

I glared up at Ryan, who was staring into the eyes of the Ender Dragon. "Ryan…" I hissed quietly. "You need to bow."

He blinked before quickly falling into a deep bow as well. I wondered if he was a faction leader or something back in the Overworld. It would make sense why he was so stubborn.

Finally, the Ender Dragon, my King, bowed in return, his eyes level with our own, his chin nearly scraping the ground. That was our signal to enter. His tail, which had been wrapped around the portal, now drew back, allowing us to pass. I could sense his consciousness, although it was fairly guarded. Even so, I could feel an emotion or two slip through his defenses from time to time- he was proud, but glad the human was leaving and returning to where he belonged.

Standing on the portal's rim, I gazed down into the swirling blackness. It was covered in light blue spots- the stars of the Overworld reflected by the portal.

Just before we jumped in, I grabbed something from the backet of my items I was carrying, opposed to his backpack. It was a small, light purple pill, which I pressed into his palm.

"Here," I said to him. "Just in case something happened when we get there, and we have to run, this is a pain pill. You never know…"

He sighed and quickly swallowed it. "There. Now let's go."

I nodded and jumped, feeling the coolness of the portal surrounding me, seeming to billow up in dark, black clouds around me. This was it- I'd be in the Overworld soon…

* * *

Chapter written by Author 2


	8. It's a Green World

**A/N: Sorry, but this chapter will come in two parts because I'm having issues uploading the entire thing at once with my terrible internet connection.**

* * *

I had spent a lot of time imagining what the first thing I'd see in the Overworld would be. I had always thought of flowers, waterfalls… you get the idea.

The first thing I actually saw? The Sun. Blinding, the too bright sun that made my eyes hurt. I had never seen the sun before, but I had thought it would be a lovely, soft light.

Of course it wasn't. So, now, I was lying on my back, on the ground, with my hands covering my eyes.

"Ow…" I mumbled in a rather pitiful manner. "The Sun is too bright."

Ryan didn't say anything, so I guessed he was contacting his faction. Not wanting to interrupt, I pondered just lying there for a little while longer. Still, my elytra were digging into my back and there was something really scratchy underneath me.

Shielding my eyes from the worst of the Sun's glare, I slowly sat up. Cautiously, I partially opened one eye, and then the other, waiting for the word around me to fade into focus.

Green. Everywhere. Underneath me, around me. The End was purple, black, and yellow. Here, everything was green.

The pain in my eyes began to subside some as I looked around, craning my neck to see behind me.

The drawings in the book didn't begin to describe what I saw. Looking down, I could feel… was it, grass? It was green like so much else here, but it was somewhat scratchy.

I ran a hand through it and felt the blades running through my fingers. "Wow…" I breathed.

I glanced around the area I was in. There were flowers of all sorts of colours here… it was like a rainbow on the ground.

Closing my eyes again, although I desperately wanted to open them and see everything, I took a few moments to just sit. Listening, I could hear running water somewhere to my right, and the heavy but slow footsteps I assumed to belong to Ryan on my left. Inhaling, I could smell the sweetness from the flowers, how fresh and alive the air was.

"Ryan, this is- it's amazing!" I said, laughing some as I opened my eyes to see the world again. It was still as green as last time, still had the flowers and the grass.

"No- no. It's not. Something wrong!" I snapped my head to see Ryan to my left, leaning against a tree that was many times his height, the leaves and branches above him. "I- I can't hear the chat! What did you do?!"

"The… chat?" I asked, confused.

"Humans communicate telepathically most of the time. We call this the chat. But I can't hear anyone!"

"Oh," I pause, trying to figure out what had happened. It was possible…

"I think it was the pain pill I gave you," I answer slowly, cautiously. "Your mind isn't used to the chorus that's in the End. Just wait for the effects to wear off."

He pauses for a moment, considering. "How long will it take?"

How long were those supposed to last? I wanted to say around a day, but I could be wrong.

"A day, I think?" I reply unsurely.

He winces slightly, frowning. "Okay," he finally says. "I guess there's nothing I can do about it now anyway. At least my leg won't hurt as much."

"Yeah," I reply, already turning my attention away from him. There was just so much to see! The End was barren compared to this place, filled with plants and colour.

This was some of where my fascination with the Overworld had come from. It was these little places that were so peaceful and nice, instead of the violent, bloody battles of the factions.

"Do you know where we are?" I asked him. "There's so many trees and flowers!"

"We call it a flower forest, actually," he mumbled distractedly in response. "Y'know… I think I know where I am.."

"Is that a good thing?" I ask. Are we close to his faction? Or is there someone here that wants to kill us? I'd rather not have to worry about being hunted down, thanks.

"It's a good thing, yeah," he replies, nodding. "I- this should be right over the mountains from where my faction is!"

Oh. So, we were really close to where he needed to go. Although I was supposed to be his "escort," it really seemed to feel like he was just tolerating me while he was being productive.

He frowned. "I don't think I can get up the mountain, though, and I can't give the signal to get in the caves. We're still going to have to stay here, possibly for the night, until I can use the chat again.

I think back to the chorus pill I had given him. Was there a chance that instead of stopping the ability, it was just cut short? Humans could use telepathy over long distances, right? Maybe he just couldn't use it in the same range, but anyone nearby could hear it.

"Can you still use your telepathy at all, like if someone was walking close by they could hear it? Or is it just gone?"

"Hmm…" He shut his eyes, probably to focus. "I can still use it, but I can tell no one can hear me."

I didn't question how, and I suppose it didn't really matter.

"So, er, do we need to set up a camp or something? I mean, if you're sure you don't want to try climbing the mountain or anything. Is there anyone who would come down here?"

He shook his head, "I would try, but we may very well be shot dead before the guards recognize us. Nobody really comes down to this part of the valley anyway."

Wait… valley? I think back to the map on my ceiling. There were two mountain ridges, with a valley in between.

"Is there any chance that you're part of the faction of the Night?" I asked him, trying to remember this part of the map in particular.

"Faction of the Night? That's an odd way of saying it. I'm pretty sure it's how it was maybe two or three decades ago. We say faction after the word now."

"Oh," I reply. "But you still haven't answered my question."

"No, I'm not a part of the Night faction. They were bought out years ago. I'm in the Gold faction."

I nodded, glancing around. "So, shelter it is then. How do you make camps here in the Overworld? There's mobs and rain and stuff, right? How do you protect yourself from all of that?"

"We need to build a temporary shelter. If you can get some wood, we can build up some walls and spend the night like that."

"Okay!" I replied, eager to get to see more of the flower forest. Standing up, I stretched my arms. Glancing around, I found my basket a short distance away. Deciding I might as well just leave it there I picked a random direction to go off in. Choosing one that had me heading away from the mountain slopes, I began to head off at a lazy jog, disappearing into the foliage.

It felt strange how the flowers brushed against my legs and the grass crunched underneath my shoes, which I was now glad I had chosen to wear. Normally, I only wore them if I was going to be out picking fruit.

I paused at one of the trees that was a lightish brown. The End might not have many colours, but the book had a colour reference-guide, so I was set.

Now, how was I supposed to get the wood from it? It was a big, solid tree. Choosing on of the smaller, but lower, branches, I began to inspect it.

"Um…" I called back to Ryan. "How am I supposed to get the wood from the trees?!"

"Punch it!" He called back. "Anger is key!"

I wasn't a very angry person, though, and the tree had done nothing wrong to me. Still, I raised a hand and lightly bumped the tree. Nope, it didn't break, and it made my knuckles hurt some.

Taking a deep breath, I tried again, hammering away at the trunk. Um… ow. Wincing slightly, I stopped. Nope, that wouldn't be happening. Still… I examined the area I had been whaling on. Little crackles had appeared on the bark… was it possible that I did that?

Raising my fist again, I hit it a few more times. There it was- small fractures appearing in the wood when I hit it. Taking a deep breath, I punched again, this time harder then before. It made my hand sting, but believe it or not the branch broke off of the tree trunk.

I picked it up from where it had fallen on the ground. It was a bit lighter than I had expected at first,light enough for me to take it over to Ryan without too much trouble, although I found it easier to just drag the branch over to wear he was.

 **~*Time Skip Time*~**

I plopped down on the grass next to Ryan, leaning against a wall of our temporary shelter. My basket of items was inside the shelter, but I had grabbed a chorus fruit to eat outside, so I could watch the sunset.

It was amazing- considering I had only first seen it today, it felt even more special, getting to see red and orange streak along the sky, meeting the blues and purples that were slowly giving way to the stars in the darkening sky.

I had never noticed it before, but it seemed to me that I had fairly good night vision. Obviously it was still darker in some places than in others, but I could still make out the outlines of the trees around us.

"How do you eat that?" Ryan asked me, pointing to the fruit in my hands. He was sitting with his leg stretched out, and had his crutch leaning against the shelter.

"Oh, uh, well you have to peel it," I answered. The thick skin of the fruit was helpful for cooking and processing it, but when it came down to eating it raw it was more of a bitter-tasting nuisance than anything.

I poked my thumbs into the top of the fruit and began to peel away at the skin. Chorus fruit were different than the fruits from the Overworld I had read about. They were a bit like a melon since you couldn't eat the rind, but it wasn't as tough as a melon's. Also, instead of having small seeds, it had one large pit in the center. Fortunately, the actual fruit part separated fairly easily from the pit, so it wasn't a big deal.

Dropping the peels to the ground beside me, I pulled the remaining fruit apart. Taking out the pit, I set it with the peels. I'd pick it up when I was done eating, so I could plant it in the End.

"Do you want to try a piece?" I asked him. "It's kinda sweet, but also a little tangy. It- it's hard to describe."

He shook his head. "No thanks. Just in case it does the same thing as the pain pill, I'll pass."

I shrugged. That was fine, it meant more for me, I suppose. I was about to bite into it when I paused, hearing something. Was it…?

"I think I heard an enderman!" I exclaimed, jumping up. I carefully set the fruit down on the small pile of peels, so that it wouldn't have to touch the grass. Wiping my hands on my shirt, I looked around, trying to pinpoint where the sound had come from.

"I'm going to go find the enderman, I'll be back in a few minutes," I inform him, already turning away from our little shelter.

"Wait! It's getting dark!" he shouts back to me.

So what? I'll probably be able to find my way back, anyway. Looking around for a moment to try and get my bearings, I begin to jog off in the direction I think the enderman is, hoping he won't teleport away before I can reach him.


	9. It's a Green World (Part 2)

I hear footsteps somewhere ahead of me. Even if it isn't the enderman, it could be an animal, which I'd also like to see.

I see a flash of green through the already green trees. Okay, not an ender. But what kind of animal is green?

I think back to the book, where it had the different mobs. There were the passive ones, but none were green. Unless… had someone dyed a sheep? If so, who? Was it one of the factions?

Oh, wait… there were also hostile mobs detailed in the book.

"A creeper…" I say softly. I back away a few steps, unsure if it's going to try and attack me. I'm practically ender, I have the chorus… maybe it won't.

But it wouldn't hesitate to attack Ryan.

Temporarily forgetting about the enderman, I turn around and start to run back to the shelter, becoming increasingly aware of all the hostile mobs around me.

Panting, I practically skid into the small clearing where we had set up camp. I can see Ryan with his sword drawn, stabbing it at the nearest mob. "Aurora! Get into the shelter already!" he yells upon spotting me.

However, seeing the battering the shelter of ours had taken already, I didn't want to be in it when a creeper blew what was left of it up.

"C'mon, we need to run for it!" I shouted in response.

"There's a shallow cave a little ways up the mountain side, if we can get to it we may be able to block it off!" he replies, already grabbing his crutch to support him. He gasps and swings his sword at a skeleton, its bare bones a bright white as it shoots an arrow at us.

With a sickening crunch, it collapses, the bones glowing for an instant before dissolving in a small puff of white smoke. It's dead, and it's died just like so many ender- except it doesn't have a chance to return to its home and try to heal. Just like that, it's gone.

He points to the mountain and says something, but is cut off as a creeper explodes nearby us, sending shrapnel flying, and Ryan stumbling forward. He grabs my arm, but it turns to leaning on me for support as we head up the mountainside.

Screaming as jerk as I feel a decaying arm graze my back. Ryan swings around, sword ready, only to pause.

I turn around too, looking at what he saw. There, standing before us, is a young woman wearing chain mail armor.

"C'mon!" She shouts. "This way!"

"Wait, Lu-" Ryan starts, but is cut off by the woman.

"No time! There's mobs all over the place!"

Her sword drawn, she begins to help us to safety.

* * *

Chapter written by Author 2


	10. Return

**A/N: Yay my turn**

* * *

The mountain range that our home lay under was no more than an hour away. Taking a deep breath, I urged my horse along, being it wasn't use to having to carry two people. The woman, Naomi, had agreed to come back to the faction to heal.

 _Oh, by the way_ Naomi began in a private chat, _What was the name of your healer?_

 _Her name is Drakia, but she goes by Dragon._ I said. I watched in surprise as Naomi's eyes widened in shock. _Are you okay?_

 _Oh… Um… Yeah I'm fine._ she said looking away from me. I didn't believe her. She seemed to recognize Dragon's name. _Why do so many people know Dragon from somewhere other than Gold faction!?_ I wondered. My thoughts were interrupted when an arrow came flying from the mountain. Naomi ducked behind me, but the rest of the group stayed completely calm. I pulled my bow out of my bag, notched an arrow, and fired it back slightly to the left. Spot on, I had aimed perfectly. A small fire lit from one of the mountain peaks, signalling we could enter.

 _The thing with the arrow is our way of a password._ I explained to Naomi, who was still scared, _I hit a certain block that lights the fire. It takes months of practise to hit the right one. If you don't the guards will shoot you dead. That's why only the best archer is allowed to shoot._

She was silent, but I saw her nod out of the corner of my eye. It was a very different style than most factions used. I had been on a journey to Cobble faction with Ryan, and when we got there he had to write the password on a piece of paper, put it in a chest that had a hopper under it, and wait until the guards approve it. It took a while, but they've only been invaded once, and that was when the Ender faction was still around. They had been destroyed shortly after in revenge by Ryan's father- and that was over a decade ago. He only attacked them because his wife died in the raid, leaving Ryan motherless. Ryan was about ten when that happened.

As our horses climbed the mountain slope I began to freak out again. My breathing sped up, I felt sweaty, and I was scared out of my mind. I almost took off again if not for Naomi. The strange woman placed her hand on my shoulder and gave me a comforting smile. My breathing steadied, I stopped sweating, and I wasn't as scared, but I was still nervous.

The horse master came running up to our horses as we entered the flat area. I slid off my horse and helped Naomi do the same. She fell into my arms once her feet touched the ground.

 _Whoa! Easy! You okay?_ I asked frantically as Dragon came running over.

 _I'm okay,_ she said, straightening up, _I just got used to sitting._ That may be what she said, but with her side injury… you could never be too careful.

I cracked a smile as Dragon motioned for me to let her help her down the tunnels. As I tried to transfer Naomi's arm to Dragon she jerked away. _You sure you're okay?_ I asked, thinking she had jerked because she was in pain or something of the sort

 _Yeah it's just… I'd rather stick with you…_ she said trying to avoid eye contact with Dragon.

 _Um… I've got to speak with the faction… About our leader, well former leader…_ I had told Naomi about our journey to look for Ryan that ended in failure, but I had never told her about me being the general, it was just a safety precaution.

 _Oh… I know curiosity killed the cat, but why?_ she asked trying to find a way to stick with me.

 _Because I'm the general… And future leader…_ I said duckingmy head.

 _Oh!_ she said, just realizing the situation, _Well then… Can Rachel help me?_

I gave up trying to argue with her and just nodded. Rachel came running over from her horse. She wrapped her arm around Naomi's shoulders.

I walked over to the guide and instructed him to take them down, and to make sure Naomi got to the med-bay. He nodded and began to lead them down the dark winding tunnels.

I soon joined them after I had spoken with the head guard. He was sad that Ryan was gone, but said that I would make a good leader… Yeah right. I hadn't any experience of leading, and that doesn't exactly sound like a good leader skill to me.

I joined Dragon and Naomi in the med-bay after I had spoken with the captains. Naomi was sound asleep on one of the beds in the main area, Dragon was brewing something, and Rose, Dragon's apprentice, was sitting on the bed beside Naomi.

 _How is she?_ I asked.

 _She'll be fine once she gets some rest._ Rose replied after Dragon seemed too busy to notice.

 _I'm glad._ I replied.

After saying goodbye I headed out of the med-bay, and towards my room. I opened the doors and climbed down the ladder. I looked around my room, _nothing's changed_ , but that was a lie. Ryan was gone… And now I'm leader. It had only been maybe five days…

I walked slowly over to my bed, crawling in. I fell asleep the second my face hit the pillow. I was exhausted from the long ride back.

 _My eyes opened slowly, expecting to see the ceiling of my room, but that was the opposite of what I saw. I saw a black sky, filled with purple twinkling stars. I sprung to my feet, realizing I was lying on stone. I looked around only for a second, because when I did the only thing I got to see was Enderman. They were everywhere near and far._

 _I ducked my head as I tried to figure out where I was. 'This must be the End!' I thought in surprise. I realized I was dreaming, but what a weird dream._

 _No longer afraid on the Enderman I looked up, seeing the vast land of yellowish stone. Then I saw something that made me almost faint, even though I knew I was dreaming- The Ender Dragon. The beast was even more terrifying than in the books, and they were pretty detailed._

 _I watched in shock as it landed not far from where I stood as two humans walked over to the portal in the middle. One was a young girl with black hair and purple eyes, and the other was… Wait… Ryan!?_

 _My mouth hung open as I fought the urge to yell out to him, but I knew this was all a dream… Or was it? Some humans had said that they had dreams of seeing other people using the chat, by accident while sleeping. I highly doubted it, but an inkling of hope edged its way into my mind._

 _The girl made a bowing motion and Ryan followed her lead. The dragon returned the gesture in reply. They climbed onto the edge of the portal, and jumped in. I tried to run after them, but I couldn't move. I looked down at my feet, but instead of the stone I saw blackness. In shock I began to fall into the black void, unable to stop._

I shot up in my bed, breathing deeply and rapidly. I looked around my room and kept telling myself, _It was just a dream. It was just a dream,_ though it had seemed so life like.

Knowing I wouldn't be able to fall back asleep, I crawled out of my bed, planning to go for a walk. I always did like midnight walks, even if I did have to deal with mobs.

I slipped out unnoticed by the guards that had dozed off. Note to self, add more night shifts.

As I left the cold tunnels and into the open sky, I realized how small the base was compared to the world.

I walked to the edge of where the mountain overlooked the valley. We called it Flower Valley due to the fact that a beautiful flower forest lay within it.

To my shock I see two people running out of the forest and towards the mountain side, a man and a younger girl, the man limping severely. Looking where they had run from I see several mobs chasing them.

Not thinking about it I charged down the mountain to their aid. As a zombie swipes at the girl, who's no older than thirteen or fourteen, she screams in terror. The man swings his sword, knocking it down, but not quit killing it. He had spotted me. I just about fainted when I saw his face. _Ryan!?_ I thought in shock, I could tell he recognized me too.

"Come on this way!" I shouted seeing more mobs come filing out of the forest.

"Wait Lu-" he begins, but I cut him short.

"No time! There's mobs all over the place!" I shouted as I helped Ryan up the rocky slope into a small cave, the girl running after us. Once she was inside I hit my pickaxe against the entrance, causing gravel to cover the entrance. We were safe.

* * *

written by Author 1


	11. Aurora

In the complete dark of the small cave we sat catching our breath. After my breathing steadied I pulled a torch out of my bag, which I never went anywhere without, then lit it so we could see. The girl was sitting against the stone cave walls while Ryan was sprawled across the floor.

"Ryan?" I said trying to get his attention. The girl looked over to Ryan, moving closer. Holding the torch in my left hand, I hurried over to my friend and leader, hoping he wasn't hurt.

He was breathing, it came out raspy but steady. I sat him up against the wall with the help of the girl.

"So," I began after we sat in awkward silence for a while, "Who are you, and where did you come from?"

"Oh, I'm Aurora, and I'm from, er… well, not exactly a faction..." she said looking at the gravel wall that stood between us and the mobs.

"A village?" I offered, glad to be carrying a conversation with our real voices, distracting from the mobs outside. She nodded, but the expression on her face suggested the name didn't quite fit.

"I- I know this seems unlikely," I said looking at her closely, "but, I did have a dream where I saw you both leaving the End. Have you heard the legends before, about it?" I asked her, not moving my eyes from Ryan who was looking a little pale in the torch light.

"A dream about the End?" she asked looking at me. "I've- uh, I've heard of the place before."

"Yeah, I normally don't dream, so this of .all things is very strange."

"Yeah, it kinda is…" we sat in silence once more, the only sound being the groaning of zombies outside of the small cave.

"All in all, I'm just glad to have our leader back." I finally commented, smiling at Ryan.

"Your leader!?" Aurora exclaimed.

"Yeah," I said looking at the girl, "He didn't tell you?"

"No, he didn't," she replied looking slightly offended.

"Don't take it personally, we never say our ranks until we know the person fairly well." I said, thinking of Naomi. "It's just a matter of security."

"So what's your position in your faction?" she asked me.

"Classified," I replied, biting my cheek so that I wouldn't smile.

"Oh come on, please?" she begged.

"I was just kidding," I said stifling a laugh, "I am general Luna. Pleased to meet you, Aurora."

 **~*Time Skip Time*~**

I pushed some of the gravel away from where it had covered the entrance. Ryan was blinking in and out of conscious which was worrying me. Aurora said she gave him a pain pill before they set off that kept him from using the chat, and that was why he hadn't contacted me when they first got there. I just hoped that it wasn't what was causing his condition now.

As I moved one of the rocks, sunlight hit my face causing me to stumble backwards. I normally didn't go to the surface, let alone be there at sunrise when it was shining right into my face- as it rose right between two mountain peaks.

"Are you okay?" Aurora asked me as I shielded my eyes. I noticed she did the same, but I passed it off as her reaction to sitting in near-darkness all night long.

"Yeah, I'm good. Come on, let's get Ryan out of here and into Gold faction," I said as I cleared more of the gravel away. Soon, we could get through.

Aurora and I held Ryan up by wrapping his arms around the backs of our necks while we held them there, or if he was feeling more conscious he could help us. Aurora had explained he had a crutch, but it would be useless if he wasn't awake enough to use it. It would be hard walking across a plain, let alone up a mountain. Even so, I was surprised she was doing so well for such a young girl. We were just out of sight from the guard tower so I didn't have to fire an arrow, good thing too. I didn't think I could have made it if my life depended on it, which it does.

Of course, that was a weakness in our defenses. But it was helpful in this one very specific situation, which would hopefully never happen again.

Once we got to the tunnel entrance, the night guard- who was just ending his shift- came rushing over. When he saw Ryan I could tell he was about to ask a million questions, so I answered them in one sentence.

"Ryan needs medical attention, I will explain everything soon," he nodded and let us pass into the tunnels with the guide that stayed up there 24/7.

Traveling the tunnels normally was hard enough, but try doing it with an unconscious person slowing you down. The guide tried to help, but couldn't do much except hold the torch.

Every so often a bat would fly over us, and every time Aurora would squeal in fright. The first time she did it, she let go of Ryan and him and I fell to the ground. With Aurora apologizing like nuts, I had to wonder where she was from. People, even kids, just weren't like she was around here.

As we entered the main area, every person we passed just about fainted, and one actually did. I was about to join him, seeing as I was exhausted. I had stayed up all night while Aurora had gotten at least a little sleep, as far as I could tell.

The second we stumbled into the med-bay I about fell flat on my face. I would have too, if it wasn't for Rose, who was standing by Naomi, awake and alert.

 _Luna, is that Ryan?!_ Dragon exclaimed in the chat as she rushed over to us. _B- but, how?!_

I tried to say something, but all I could manage was a nod. Yes, this was Ryan all right. Rose helped me to one of the beds as Dragon did the same with Ryan, who was feeling a little more awake it seemed. I wanted to tell them about what the heck happened, but I passed out from exhaustion before I could say anything.

Groggily, I sat up rubbing my head because of a dull ache pounding through it. I looked around what I thought was my room only to see it was the med-bay. _Great,_ I thought, _one would think they'd put me back in my room._

I felt more awake when I saw Ryan, sitting on the edge of his bed. He hadn't noticed that I had woken up yet, but the girl- er, Aurora, sure did.

"How're you feeling?" she asked out loud which was beginning to bug me. It was one thing to use your voice as a distraction, it was another to use it for no purpose at all.

 _I'm fine._ I replied in the chat, but only heard my voice bounce off her and come back to me. She didn't even seem to notice that I had tried to message her, but was instead looking at me expectantly.

Cocking my eyebrow I asked aloud, "Why don't you use the chat?" It was possible to completely ignore anyone trying to speak to you through the chat, I mean I managed to only hear people in our faction, but why would anyone do that? Or could she be… unable to use it in the first place? Sure, sometimes people talked aloud to distract from other noises, to get more attention, emphasis like that. But all the time? What if something happened to her, and she was gagged, hurt, or too far away from everyone else?

Ryan was now looking at me, so he answered for her, "She never learned how. It's not that she doesn't, she _can't._ "

"Well that's annoying." I replied, rolling my eyes, "So I guess we have to talk aloud if we want her to hear us?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry." she said, looking at the floor in shame.

Sighing, _Dragon, can Rose set aside some of her time and teach Aurora here how to use the chat?_

 _Yes I'm sure she can. Right Rose?_ Rose nodded her head happily.

"Rose here is gonna teach you how to use the chat a little, at least enough so you can hear us." I told Aurora who seemed a little against saying yes, but she nodded after some thought.

Rose began to jump up and down in joy as she walked over to Aurora to get started. They were about the same age so I figured they'd get along.

Looking over to Ryan I asked in the chat, _Can you use the chat now? At all?_

 _Yeah a… a little._ He replied facing me, _So, what did I miss?_

 _Well, lets see. We went on a five day search for you, only to find the portal to the End_ _broken, after we figured out where you went. While we were heading home we came across a woman in need of help, her name is Naomi. She was hurt badly, so we brought her back here. That's her over there carving wood for no reason,_ I finished motioning, to the bed beside Ryan where Naomi was whittling away at the wood in her hands.

 _I'm sorry I ran off,_ he said, looking at the floor, to hide the slight smile on his face.

 _How about a little warning before you run off to another dimension?_ I joked.

He laughed, _Yeah, will do._

We had always been like this- he does something stupid, I have to clean it up, and we joke about it later, or vice versa. I wasn't perfect. Some people in the faction thought we'd end up together, but I knew I'd never have feelings like that, especially for him. We were just really good friends, that's all.

I watched Naomi carve away at the wood as if it had done something to her mother. I was about to ask what she was doing, but Kyle, the head guard, chose that time to come running in with a letter in his hands.

 _What's up?_ Ryan asked, seeing the letter he was clutching in his hands.

 _Cobble faction, Horse faction, and Quartz faction all have called for a meeting in the hidden valley!_ Kyle exclaimed as he handed the letter to Ryan. I sprung up from my bed, and practically lept over to sit beside him and read over his shoulder like I always did. I acted mature when it's expected, but when I'm just around Ryan and Dragon, maybe Rose, I can bring out my childish side I never got to use as a kid.

 _Two days huh._ Ryan mused, _We'll need to head out at dawn if we're to get there in time._

 _Great,_ I sighed, _We get back and right afterwards we have to go running off again. Well at least I'm not in charge of this journey._

Ryan laughed a little, but Dragon just sighed and looked over to Naomi.

 _What about her,_ Dragon began, looking over to Naomi who was trying her best to stay out of our business, which I was thankful for. _We can't just leave her here._

 _I won't cause any trouble, promise. I'll help out, wherever, if you need it. Take it as my thanks for helping me. If I try anything, feel free to have your guards shoot me down or something,_ Naomi said, looking up from her wood.

Dragon didn't look convinced, but Ryan replied gratefully, _We'd love the help. May I ask what faction you're a part of?_

 _Factionless, if you'd believe it. I actually…_ she trails off, looking over to the door of Rose's room.

At that Rose and Aurora appeared from the room in question, where they'd gone to practice using the chat without all of us watching. Aurora was nervously fingering the straps of the strange contraption of sorts she was wearing on her back, and I offhandedly wondered what it's for. I'd have to remember to ask her later, as I'd seen nothing like it before.

 _I'll prepare the supplies for your journey. Will Aurora be going too?_ Rose joined in.

Ryan was silent for a moment, considering his answer, _Yes... She'll just have to stick with a captain or they'll kill her the second you step foot in the valley._

I glanced at Aurora to see if she'd heard, but it didn't seem like it.

"Are you trying to talk to me again? You're making the same face you did last time," she asked me.

 _"_ Yes _,"_ I began _, "_ but it doesn't seem you can hear me. It's okay, you'll get better with practice."

Aurora smiled before she asked aloud, "So, er, where will I be sleeping? T- that is, if you don't want me to leave right now. I've done all that I was sent to do, I can leave."

Ryan shrugged, so that left me to consider the options, "Well you could sleep here, or there are a few extra rooms we have set aside for when Jayde visits. Considering the fact you nearly died along with Ryan last night, I don't think it's a good idea for us to just throw you out. We'll have someone go with you for at least part of your journey, if you're not comfortable with them going all the way." I paused for a moment, briefly wondering why anyone would let a girl who looked to be barely a teenager go out on such a journey.

"I'll take one of the rooms f- for now, thank you. Um, who's Jayde?"

"Oh, Jayde is leader of Cobble faction, and Ryan's sister." I replied looking over to Ryan who was engrossed in Naomi's project.

Aurora nodded before Rose lead her away.

"Oh yeah!" Aurora exclaimed before she could leave, "I left my basket of things in the flower forest when we had to run from the mobs. Could someone maybe go get it? It's got my food and clothes and stuff in it." Who uses a basket instead of just a normal backpack? Well, her, apparently.

"Okay," I replied, "I'll get one of the mountain guards to go get it." She left with a smile on her face.

I called for a messenger to tell one of the guards to go get their things, and he ran off the second I finished speaking with a, _Yes ma'am._

Sighing I stood up from the bed, and left the med-bay, saying goodbye to everyone in there. I stumbled to my room, still tired from the long night before. This time, I managed to take my armor off before I fell asleep, but didn't change into my pajamas.

* * *

Chaoter written by Author 1


	12. Learning

I swung my legs as I sat, perched on the end of a bed in the med-bay of Ryan's faction. My guess about his authority from back in the End had turned out to be right- he was a faction leader!

I felt somewhat uncomfortable just sitting there with nothing much to do. Considering Ryan was the first ever human I had met, who I could remember at least, it was a bit overwhelming to suddenly be seeing so many people. I had chosen not to go around blurting everything about myself, since while Ryan had, y'know, actually gone to the End, these people didn't know anything about it, if what he had said was to be believed.

I fiddled with the elytra straps going around my shoulders as I awkwardly stayed there. The woman who had saved us, Luna, had passed out soon after we got down here, and Ryan was still unconscious. I had paced around the room for a little while, not wanting to fall asleep. I hadn't really gotten any sleep last night, but I didn't want to collapse on a random gurney or anything.

"Hello? Overworld to strange girl, come in strange girl." I glanced over to where I had heard the voice come from. A woman, somewhere in her late twenties most likely, was sitting up in the bed next to me. As far as I could have told, she had been asleep when I had first come in.

"Oh, um, hi." I said in response. She gave me an odd look, making me wonder if she was trying to talk to me telepathically. If she was, it seemed she had simply given up as she continued speaking with her voice.

"I'm Naomi, and you are?"

"Aurora," I replied, glancing at the wall behind her to avoid looking directly at her. She followed my gaze and looked over her shoulder, but turned back upon seeing nothing.

I yawned, and despite trying to stifle it the woman- Naomi- raised an eyebrow. "Y'know, I doubt anyone would mind if you got some sleep. You look wiped."

I shrugged. She seemed about so say something, but was interrupted by someone mumbling something indecipherable across the room. As if in sync, we both looked over.

"W- what…?" The voice mumbled, as someone sat up. Actually, no, not someone- it was Ryan. It seemed that he was awake.

"Ryan, hey!" I exclaimed, standing up. He rubbed his eyes, still fairly out of it.

He blinked, looking around confusedly.

"I'm back in my faction," he stated. his gaze leveled out and met my own. "And you're at my faction as well. Uh, welcome." A look of confusion crosses his expression at this, and he turns his head, looking for someone else.

"Is Luna alright?" He asks, seeing her passed out on one of the beds.

"She's fine," I replied, "Just tired, I guess." He nodded, satisfied with my answer.

He swung his legs over the side of the bed, obviously about to stand up, when someone else came running in. She didn't say anything that I could hear, but the urgent look on her face made me think she was talking to him through the chat.

"What is she saying?" I asked Ryan, who had stopped trying to stand up and just sat there.

"She just told me not to stand up, she's going to check my leg," he fell silent after that, so I had to guess that he was speaking to her again.

"Oh." I replied. The woman seemed to be going through basic assessments with him, or something, which made sense considering he had been floating in and out of consciousness until now.

He stretched out one arm and curled in his fingers before doing the same with the other. She nodded at this before having him go back to sitting on his bed with his legs out, so she could check his leg.

"Are you just gonna put the healing potion thing on his leg then, and fix it?" I asked her.

The woman, without looking at me, answered, "If we use too much at once, it won't heal right, especially on such an injury. We'll have to apply a little every day, until it's healed completely."

"Oh," I replied. Despite technically being a medic in the End, a healer, considering I lived in a medical homestead, I had never used the healing potions before in the first place.

I saw her shake her head some, as though annoyed by my idiocy, and went back to work. Turning to look at Naomi to my right, I watched for a few moments as she sat on her bed, carving away at a piece of wood.

"Who was that?" I asked Ryan as the person that had been re-bandaging his leg left the room, muttering something under her breath about needing to get more materials.

"That's Dragon, our lead medic," he replied.

"Dragon? Like, Ender Dragon?" Out of the corner of my eye, I see Naomi pause carving long enough to glance up at me before going back to what she was doing.

"It's just a nickname, actually."

"Oh," I reply. I'm about to continue when I hear someone shifting. Glancing to my right, I see Naomi looking down at the wood, not having moved. Then who…?

Across from me, Luna slowly sat up, rubbing at a spot on her head. She blinked, looking around the room.

"How're you feeling?" I asked her, watching as her gazed settled on mine. After a few moments of silence, in which Ryan turned from where he was sitting to face her, it crossed my mind that she was trying to talk to me telepathically.

"Why don't you use the chat?" And just like that, my suspicions are confirmed.

Ryan was now looking over at her, and he answered for me, "She never learned how. It's not that she doesn't, she _can't._ "

Well, I guess that does sum things up.

"Well that's annoying." she muttered in reply, rolling her eyes, "So I guess we have to talk aloud if we want her to hear us?"

She said that like it's necessarily a bad thing to talk with your voice. But it isn't, not really. I mean, maybe for her it is, but not for me. Still…

"Yeah, I'm sorry…" I apologized, looking down to the floor.

She shook her head, probably talking telepathically. At around that moment, I heard a door open on the far side of the room, where the medic- Dragon- had disappeared off to. In tow with her was a younger girl, around my age, actually. Maybe a bit older, I couldn't be exactly sure.

"Rose here is gonna teach you how to use the chat a little, at least enough so you can hear us," Luna informed me.

Uh… well, to be honest, I didn't really want to. Who knows, maybe the chorus even prevented me from using the chat, although I had figured I had gotten so used to it that it wouldn't affect me anymore. I really wasn't too sure about it all. Still, the other girl, who I was guessing was Rose, looked excited to begin.

Rose walked across the room and took my hand, pulling me up off the bed I was sitting on. Well then, I guess we were starting now.


	13. Learning (Part 2)

**A/N: Once again, posting the chapter in two parts because internet issues. Sorry.**

"C'mon, we can go sit in my bedroom to practice," she told me. I shrugged, and she practically pulled me behind her to a door off in one of the more uninhabited corners of the room.

"This is my room," she announced proudly, nearly flinging open the solid wooden door. The room inside was compact, with a bookshelf lining one wall and a desk on another, with a shelf packed with small items rested above it. The last wall was composed of a bed, with a heavy wooden chest at the very end.

"Kinda small isn't it?" I said, slowly taking in the space around me. My room in the End was a bit more spacious, having a large closet, desk, and bookcase, as well as an open window gazing down on a terrifying drop. This was more of a cramped, but homey, space.

"Well, I uh, actually only tend to spend time in here if I'm wanting to get some alone time. Or, y'know, sleep," Rose said as she glanced around her room, "I spend most of my time in the library anyway.

"So why are you helping her out, is she training you or something?" I asked, "Are you going to be a medic?"

"Yeah, I'm her assistant right now, but as soon as I'm deemed fit I'll be a full blown medic. As head medic, she needs someone to help her out and take care of things when she's gone," she replied rubbing the back of her head a bit nervously, while staring into the wall.

"Really?! I- Erm, I'm a medic from where I come from too, actually," I commented, remembering the ender teaching me about the chorus fruit and how it healed us. I mean, I lived on a medical homestead and took care of the injured, I kind of had the "knack" for healing.

"Oh, cool!" she replied, "but, er, where do you come from? Just to ask."

"A…" what was it Luna had said? Village? "A village, far away from here. With lots and lots of trees." Yeah, I guess that was good enough. There were lots of trees. Thankfully, she didn't say anything about the elytra on my back. "My… family… specialized in medicine." Well, my homestead did. Close enough, I suppose.

Rose began to ramble about how hard it is learning all of the things Dragon taught her and how she was lucky enough that very few battles have happened during her training.

I lost track of how long we were talking, although it was probably only a short time, just that at one point Rose got really quiet.

"Um, you okay?" I asked as she jerked back from her daydreaming state.

"Oh, yeah I was just listening in the chat. Oh- er, I forgot to help you use the chat!" she exclaimed as she looked towards the door.

"Well, uh, believe it or not, where I'm from-"

"You don't use the chat there, right? And that's why you can't hear us? And why I'm teaching you?"

"Actually, um, we do. Use the chat, that is. But in a different way."

She gave me a confused look. "How do you use the chat for anything other than just talking?"

How was I to explain it without being so conspicuous? "We think more in pictures and emotions… getting the point across without shouting or giving amazingly accurate directions or recollection. We have a spoken language, too, that's really complex, like-"

"Wait," she said, putting up a hand to stop me, although she looked like she wanted to know more about what I was going to say.

"Are you needed for something?"

"Um, yeah I am. Come on." Rose replied as she led out of her room the same way she had when she showed me my room, by pulling me along.

When we left her room I saw that everyone had been moving around. Ryan's legs were thrown over the side of his bed again, Luna was sitting next to him, Dragon was standing over them, but the Naomi hadn't moved her gaze away from her chunk of wood that she was hacking away at.

Ryan's and Luna's gaze moved from Rose to me, and they began to make that same face when they were trying to talk to me in the chat.

"Are you trying to talk to me again? You're making the same face you did last time," I asked Luna.

 _"_ Yes _,"_ she began _, "_ but it doesn't seem you can hear me. It's okay, you'll get better with practice." I doubted it.

"So, er, where will I be sleeping? T- that is, if you don't want me to leave right now. I've done all that I was sent to do, I can leave," I asked, yawning slightly. I hadn't exactly gotten what I'd call a good night's sleep during our little stay in the cave. Although, if they wanted me gone, I wasn't about to argue. I was sure I could find an ender, to help me get back to the portal.

Ryan just shrugged and went back to watching Naomi carve away at the wood, so Luna replied for him, "Well you could sleep here, or there are a few extra rooms we have set aside for when Jayde visits. Considering the fact you nearly died along with Ryan last night, I don't think it's a good idea for us to just throw you out. We'll have someone go with you for at least part of your journey, if you're not comfortable with them going all the way," I frowned slightly at the thought of someone following me to the End portal.

"I'll take one of the rooms f- for now, thank you. Um, who's Jayde?" I was stuttering. How nice, I was amazingly sociable around other ender, and, say, when confronting one other person at a time, but I was terribly shy when it came to making decisions in front of random strangers.

"Oh, Jayde is leader of Cobble faction, and Ryan's sister," Luna answered me. I nodded at the explanation, feeling Rose grab my hand, tugging me back over to the exit. Not the one Dragon had gone into earlier, but the one we came in through.

We were just about to the door when I paused and looked back at the group within the room.

"Oh yeah!" I exclaimed, "I left my basket of things in the flower forest when we had to run from the mobs. Could someone maybe go get it? It's got my food and clothes and stuff in it."

That was better. I wasn't stuttering. Either way, it was kinda important I get my stuff back. At the very least, I was glad I hadn't brought my book. I didn't want to risk losing it.

Luna gave me a bit of a confused look, for what reason I didn't know, but didn't deny my request. "Okay," she said, "I'll get one of the mountain guards to go get it."

Knowing that I would get my things back, I left the room with a small smile, Rose still tugging me along the correct path.

"How do you remember where you're going? The hallways aren't in any sort of order." It was madness, I tell you. Absolute madness.

"Memorization, and hoping you don't get lost."

Yeah, I guess I figured that. She paused at an empty corridor, pointing to one of the doors part of the way down. "You'll be staying in this one, okay? It's got a bed and stuff. There's some other rooms, with storage and some food, that have their doors unlocked, so you can go into them if you want. Just, it's probably not a good idea to go wandering the halls, so just stay here until someone comes to get you."

"Okay," I replied. "That's fine."

She nodded, smiling some, and I rested my hand on the doorknob for a moment while I heard hers footsteps retreat down the hallway. Shaking my head, I went ahead and opened the door, stepping into the small room. No one else was in there, which made sense if this really was for when someone was visiting.

The layout itself was simple enough, a chest for storage, a small bookshelf, desk and bed. Not bothering to look through the books, I took a few almost hesitant steps forward before nearly collapsing on the bed, tiredly tugging off my elytra and allowing them to rest on the floor as I allowed myself to fall into sleep. I barely even registered the feeling of the bed around me, or the dim lights that gave the room a gentle, but non-invasive glow, as darkness took over and my mind went blank.

* * *

Chapter written by Author 2


	14. The Hidden Valley

I moaned, wishing for a chance to sleep in, but I had to get moving. I shook my head, trying to keep myself from falling back into oblivion. Unfortunately I had been so tired when I fell asleep that I wanted to sleep for a month, and it was all I could do to get myself up.

I quickly put on my chainmail armor with my quiver, bow, sword, and backpack, and headed up my ladder. As I opened the doors I spotted Aurora wandering through the mine, seeming not quite sure where she was going.

"You lookin' for the med-bay?" I asked her causing her to jump.

"Oh hi… Um…" she began as she struggled to remember my name.

"It's Luna."

"Right, sorry. Yeah I was looking for where ever you want me to wait until we head out." she said, observing our base.

"We normally wait in the dining hall." I said motioning down one of the tunnels that was dimly lit. Then again, most of the tunnels were dimly lit. Note to self- get someone to light this place up.

As she was about to walk off I heard the faint sound of a cave spider. Seeing it's red eyes by where she was walking I pulled my sword from the sheath, charged at the spider, and killed it in one swift move.

I looked over to Aurora, who was standing there with her mouth wide open.

"You might want to carry a sword when you're down here." I said. I shuddered, feeling as if I was being watched. What do you know? I was right. Ryan was standing at the entrance to his room, which was next to mine.

"I'll go get one from the armory." he said starting towards another one of the dim tunnels. I saw him stepping funny along with a face that looked like he was trying to hide pain, I realized his leg still hurt. I saw Aurora's expression change and I knew she realized that to. Briefly, I wondered what her role was in her village. Down here at least, everyone does their part, even if they're young.

"Don't worry Ryan," I called to him as I brushed past him, "I'll get it." He tried to say he would, but I was already on a mission, and you don't mess with me when I'm on a mission, no matter how redundant it was.

I got to the armory and back without having to deal with any cave spiders, which was lucky. I didn't think Aurora felt very comfortable in the faction as it was, especially now that she had mobs to worry about. I just hopped she knew how to use a sword.

To my disappointment, she had very little experience with a sword, and none with using it in actual combat- So that left me to give her a basic lesson before we left in about, oh, half an hour? Yay for me…

I led Aurora into the training room after I gave her a stone sword, and I shooed Ryan off to the med-bay to prepare for the long ride. Two day trips really weren't good for his leg. I mean, I'm no healer, but it has to hurt.

Walking over to the wall to the training room I picked out a set of brown, leather armor.

"Come put this on." I called to Aurora, who came running over. She seemed hesitant, but put it on after thinking for a moment, accompanied by my gentle encouragement of, "you want to get stabbed in the side with a sword?" Still, she refused to wear the chestplate, not wanting to take off the thing on her back, despite the chestplate being the most important piece to wear.

"Now what?" she asked, cocking an eyebrow.

I tossed my chainmail helmet to the side of the room, and chose a wooden sword from the rack of weapons.

"I'm gonna see what you know, and start from there." I said and almost immediately jumped forward with my sword swinging for her thigh.

She leaped back just before the sword made contact with her armor, startled. Whatever it was she was wearing in place of the chestplate were now slightly spread, reminding me of a bird about to take flight. Well, chickens didn't exactly fly, I supposed. They fell with style.

"Whoa wait!" she shouted as I was about to attack again, "You never said we were starting!"

"Do you think a creeper is gonna ask, 'excuse me ma'am would you mind if I blew up next to you?" I shouted back. She looked offended, muttering something about ender and mannerisms. I had no clue what she was going on about, but I scoffed myself. I always got aggressive when it came to fighting. Normally it was a good thing, but when you're trying to train someone, it's not always the best strategy. Especially when it looked like they barely knew which end of the sword you were supposed to hold and which one did the stabbing.

As if diamonds rained down from the sky, Rachel chose that time to walk in asking which route we'd be taking.

 _I'll take care of that if you'll teach Aurora how to handle a sword well enough to go on the journey._ Rachel nodded as I grabbed my stuff and put the wooden sword back.

"Rachel's gonna help with your practice while I get stuff worked out. Oh, and you can keep the sword and armor." I said as I started towards the caves.

Aurora called her thanks and I went right onto looking over the maps when I got to the library where they were kept. Hm, should we take the path through the plains, or past the oak forest?

* **Time Skip Time*~**

As I climbed onto my horse I could see Ryan was having a little trouble getting onto his. I was about to hoist myself onto my ride, but Ryan tried the same and ended up on the ground in pain.

 _Ryan!_ I 'called' to him as I ran over to his horse. I was joined by Dragon, Aurora, and Rachel who helped Ryan get back to his feet.

 _I'm fine._ he mumbled as he started to get back onto his horse. Wow he could be really stubborn.

 _Here, let me help you._ I said as I gave him a boost onto his horse. He nodded his thanks, so I went back to my own mount. To my left, Aurora struggled her way onto hers, although the animal looked less than pleased with her when she was finally on it.

We were soon all mounted and did a last minute roll call. _Rachel, check. Conner, check. Maddie, check._ I thought as I checked their names off the list. Along with a few outriders and archers, that was it. We tried not to bring too many people so that no one would feel like we were trying to control them- not to mention that this was a peaceful meeting, in a secret location.

The horse master had somehow gotten a hold of two mules during the time we were gone, so now we had our two archers ride them so we could keep our stuff on animals that could carry more. The archers rode them because they weighed less, and because they stayed towards the back of the group as it is.

As we started down the slope I could see Aurora was having a hard time with her horse. She was stiff as a bone, her gaze was stuck on the horse, and every time the horse shifted it's weighted she squeaked a little.

"You okay Aurora?" I asked after her horse picked up to a trot and she nearly screamed, causing it to stop out of confusion.

"Y-Yeah I've never ridden a horse that's all." she replied warily. "Never really seen one, e- either."

 _Why is she even here!?_ Dragon snapped, _She's just slowing us down!_

 _Dragon, she's just a child._ I snapped back, trying to defend Aurora who was completely oblivious to our conversation.

 _Exactly, she's just a kid! She shouldn't be here!_

 _That's enough Drakia!_ Ryan snapped and Dragon flinched. We never used her real name unless we were ending an argument. _I said she could go and that's that!_

Dragon was silent afterwards. I didn't know why she was acting like this. She always got a little tense when we'd meet with the other factions, but never this bad. _Hm, Rachel had said that she was part of Horse faction. Maybe she feels awkward about seeing her old leader?_ I thought. But, no, she had been with us before, hadn't she? Yeah, she had.

As the sun began to set we stopped for the night on the top of a hill where we'd have a good sense of direction when we'd leave in the morning. Dragon helped Ryan off his horse while I did the same with Aurora.

"Did you enjoy your first horse ride?" I asked her.

"Um, well, not really…" she mumbled.

"Don't worry, you'll get use to it." I said patting her on the back.

I hurried over to the mules, grabbed Ryan's and my tent supplies, and began to set it up. Normally Ryan got his own tent, but we always tried to pack light when we met in the Hidden Valley, so as his general I shared one with him.

Soon enough, the tents were up and the two hunters we sent off to find some meat for dinner returned with some raw, bloody chicken in their hands.

They cooked the chickens over the fire we'd lit, and practically the next thing we knew we were eating dinner. Aurora seemed hesitant to to try the chicken, prodding the piece she had been given with her finger.

"Have you never eaten chicken before?" I asked almost sarcastically. It was like she was scared of it or something.

"Well no, not really… I've never eaten meat before." she mumbled looking towards her basket which was at the base of the tent she was using. I raised an eyebrow. I knew most villages ate more vegetables than people living in factions normally did, but it was odd she had never had any before, even if only on a special occasion.

"Oh… Do you have any food you eat? If not, I'm sure we can find something for you," I replied, knowing that if she ate meat despite never eating it before she'd get sick, and that was the last thing I wanted Dragon to get on me about. Well, not quite the least thing, but I still didn't want to have to explain what had happened.

"Um, yeah I- I do." she said as she jumped up from the log she was sitting on by the fire where we were all eating so we could see our plates. I glanced over my shoulder to see her rummaging through her basket, which had been retrieved before we left.

She returned from her things with a purple fruit in her hand. She sat down next to me and began to peel it, careful setting them down in a neat pile at her feet.

"What kind of fruit is that, 'cause it doesn't look like an apple." I asked her as she peeled away at the skin.

"It's called a chorus fruit. They grow where I'm from. Do you, er, want to try a piece?"

I was about to answer yes, being I was curious, but Ryan's hand stopped me as I was about to take the small piece she had pulled off from the fruit.

"I wouldn't, it was… something, I don't know what, from that kind of fruit that kept me from using the chat." he warned. My hand snapped back from the fruit as Aurora apologized for forgetting.

"It's okay," I replied after I swallowed the last bite of chicken on my plate.

Checking in with the night watch, I headed off to my shared tent. I crawled onto my cot, barely pausing to toss off my armor, and fell asleep soon after.


	15. The Hidden Valley (Part 2)

I woke up at dawn, shaking the sleep out my eyes. I yawned as I practically jumped out of my compactable cot, swaying on my feet some due to not being completely awake. I heard Ryan yawning and knew I had woken him up.

 _I didn't mean to wake you,_ I apologized, _you can go back to sleep, we still have some time before we leave._ Still, I'd have to get him back up to grab our things out of the tent before it came down.

 _Nah, I was waking up already,_ he replied as he too nearly jumped out of his cot, which was similar to my own.

We headed out of the tent after eating a little bread for breakfast, and getting ready. The camp was already being deconstructed by the early risers, so Ryan and I went ahead and got to work on our own tent.

As I pulled one of the tent posts out from under the tent, causing one of the sides to fall to the ground, I noticed Aurora struggling to get her tent down. She was lucky enough not to have to share with anyone, and had gotten her own, small little tent to use.

I looked at her for a long moment before turning back to the job at hand. There was something just so… odd about her. It was part of how she couldn't use a sword in battle, use the chat, ate strange food… Then, in a private chat, I asked, _Ryan, who is Aurora? Why did you want her to come?_

Ryan sighed in the real world before continuing in the chat, _She saved me, I figured she might as well get a look at the world before she left. And… she might have something useful to add to this meeting. I'm not really sure._

Get a look at the world before she left… was she from another dimension? _...She's from the End isn't she?_ I asked, noticingRyan pale at my question.

 _Y- yes... how'd you know?_

 _I had a dream where I was in the End, and I saw you two. You were leaving the End, with the Ender Dragon standing guard._

 _That really happened! How'd you see it, though?_

 _I once read that some humans had accidentally used the chat while sleeping, and saw someone else who could use the chat_. _I'm guessing that's what happened._

 _I think Aurora would prefer if we didn't tell anyone about her origins. She'll be going back soon anyway._ Ryan sounded as if he wished she could stay, but kept his focused expression. I briefly wondered how she would get back, being the portal was broken, but I was fairly sure that she knew how to get back to her own home. For all I knew, there was more than one portal out there. As long as she didn't get herself killed on the way to one...

We soon had our tent folded into a nice neat stack, and loaded onto to two mules that the archers rode. Aurora had gotten her's down with the help of Rachel, who seemed to get along with Aurora better after they had trained yesterday, even if they didn't really talk that much.

We were about to head out when one of the outriders shouted aloud, "It's Cobble faction!"

I turned my head to the right and saw the grey and black flag of the Cobble faction come galloping our direction as the people holding it saw our black and gold creeper flag. Their horse stopped right in front of ours.

 _Why, hello Ryan,_ the voice of Jayde and her faction found it's way into our chat as the leader dressed in armor like mine, but with no helmet, came trotting to the front of the faction.

 _Jayde!_ Ryan smiled as he moved his horse close enough that he could hug his sister from where she sat on top of her's, _Care to join us to the valley?_

 _Of course, two factions are stronger than one as you always say._ Jayde said in a voice mocking her brother. As Ryan sat there, I saw the corner of his mouth twitch slightly in annoyance. I remembered how they'd always argue amongst themselves. Jayde, being the oldest, would always be picking on her brother, despite the fact that Gold faction was head of our allies. Cobble faction was second, then Horse, and last Quartz. We were few, but powerful.

Together Gold faction and Cobble faction set off on the rest of the journey to The Hidden Valley. The valley was made by Ryan's parents as a safe place to gather with Horse faction, which at the time was their only ally. Cobble faction was created when Jayde was sixteen because there were too many members of the original faction, so Ryan's mom and Jayde started their own faction that wasn't as violent as Gold faction. Still focused on war, sure, but they didn't go out and pick on the weaker factions as much as Gold did when Ryan's father was leader. It was the first battle in which Cobble and Gold fought together that Ryan lost his mother.

Horse faction definitely wasn't pleased when they were knocked down to third in charge after the destruction of Ender faction, Horse faction being strong allies with them. Some even say that some of the original members of Ender faction joined Horse faction, but the members of Horse faction weren't pleased. They say that a young warrior killed the Ender faction leader that had joined the faction after he took his place as general.

After the young man killed the leader, anyone left of Ender faction fled to either join another faction, or live a life alone. One of the members of Ender faction told the leader about the murder before she fled, causing the warrior to be thrown out of the faction.

I snapped out of my daydreaming when Ryan's voice sounded through the chat. I pulled my horse to a stop and smiled at the sight before me- A small tunnel.

"I thought it was a valley?" Aurora said when she saw the tunnel.

"This leads to the valley. Just- one thing. You'll need to be blindfolded, it's the only way an outsider can come in." I told her as Rachel walked over with a piece of cloth in the hands.

I glanced over at her as Aurora slid off of her horse, pausing to rub her elbow where she had bumped it on one of the saddle's stirrups.

Aurora frowned, nervous at being blinded by the cloth, but allowed Rachel to put it over her eyes.

"This is only so the valley can remain hidden, it's nothing personal. Just wait here while we take care of the horses, and then head into the tunnels."

We soon had the horses tied up with Cobble faction's and Quarts faction's, who had already arrived and were in the valley. Most of the group stayed above ground, but Ryan, Dragon, Aurora, Rachel, and I went down. Aurora still wasn't thrilled by the blindfold, but who would be? I wished she could take it off, but it was a code among our groups of allies that anyone that wasn't part of the predetermined group- leader, general, healer, and one other warrior- couldn't know the way into The Hidden Valley. It was just for safety reasons.

After a thirty minute walk in the dark caves, and having to deal with the occasional mob, we arrived at the entrance to The Hidden Valley.

Aurora entered the Valley with her hand on Rachel's shoulder, so that she wouldn't walk into any walls. While she had been on edge the entire time, unnerved by hearing the squeaking of bats echoing down the maze of tunnels and the occasional dip in the stone that caused her to stumble she kept a smile the whole time. Walking over to Aurora, I pulled off her blindfold, seeing her face light up at the beautiful sight.

There were two waterfalls flowing on either side of the entrance, a large lake below them that circled the entire valley. Crystal formations hung from the ceiling, and a quartz and glass building in the center of the lake, resting on a small island. The island itself had a few trees, not to mention dozens of flowers in all sorts of varieties, fed light by glowstone decoratively positioned on the outside of the building. It was as if a flower forest, underground ravine, and a lake were combined.

Aurora's mouth was hanging just slightly open as she studied all this, and I took it all in too. I had been here many times before, but every time was just slightly different. In the summer and spring the flowers were blooming and the cool caves were a relief, but in the fall and winter the water is often frozen, all the flowers have died back, and the caves are freezing. Lucky for us it was late spring.

We began to head down a fairly thin walkway that had been built to get from the entrance high on the walls of the valley to a small platform resting just above the water. From there, all we needed to do was walk across on the bridge, and we would be at the island.

Glancing over my shoulder, I expected to see Aurora clinging to the center of the walkway, refusing to look down. She had been fairly skittish by many of the new things she saw.

To my surprise, I noticed she was looking over the edge, looking almost as if she wanted to jump off and fly down there. My eyes drifted to the contraption she had continued to refuse to take off, and it clicked. Ryan had said she was from the End- a place floating in the void. It would make sense if she had a way to get from place to place- in this case, something that would allow her to fly, made only in the End.

I would have to remember to ask her about that before she left tomorrow.

We soon reached the island and started towards the building. When we reached the door Aurora tried to follow us, but Rachel stopped her by placing her hand on Aurora's shoulder.

"Sorry Aurora, that's as far as we're allowed to go. Leaders, healers, and generals only." Rachel said.

"Oh, it's okay, I'll get a chance to explore the valley. I mean this place is amazing!" she chirped.

"Don't go too far, I'll call for you once I ask Quartz faction and Horse faction," Ryan said, glancing at the stone bridge, "Looks like they're already here. They must have taken another route through the caves, considering we didn't see them but their horses were already there. I wouldn't be surprised if they made their camp a little ways away from the entrance, too."

As he said that my head jerked up to see Horse faction coming down the stone bridge. I looked to Ryan, seeing him give a small nod, and headed inside. Rachel waited outside, probably planning on catching up with the other guards that were regularly brought to the meetings, and hopefully keeping an eye on Aurora. Behind us, the other faction leaders, healers, and generals hurried in, and together we took our seats around a large, wooden, table.

This meeting was now officially in session.

* * *

Chapter written by Author 1


	16. The Meeting

I watched as Luna, Ryan, and Dragon entered the dark meeting house with Jayde, as well as her healer and general, slightly disappointed. Well, not exactly. I mean, they dragged me all the way here only to tell me to wait outside until Ryan called for me- if he ever did, that is- which isn't that great, but I wasn't so keen on listening to a political meeting either, come to think about it. Quartz faction was already inside, but Horse faction passed us as they entered the meeting house, and I caught a glance of Rachel giving a slight nod of recognition. The man I presumed to be the leader returned the gesture.

The guard that came with Horse faction stepped towards Rachel, motioning with his hands. After Rachel returned with nods and gestures, I realized they must have been talking in the chat. After a minute of awkwardly standing there, the man gestured towards me, and Rachel turned to look. She looked back to him before giving him a quick hug and patting him on the back, then walked back towards me.

"Who was that?" I asked.

"Oh, that was my friend Jared, we use to be in the same faction," she replied as she led me away from the building and the other guards. I didn't ask where we were going, and if I were honest, I didn't particularly care.

We walked down to the edge of the water where Rachel kneeled down, pulling her backpack off and setting it down before her to get into it. After digging around for a few heartbeats she pulled a glass water bottle out and dipped it into the crystal clear lake. I crouched down beside her and hesitantly dipped my hand into the water.

In the End, juice from the chorus fruit was used just like water, being that it wasn't sticky or thick. The ender couldn't tolerate the touch of water, so it worked fine. Being able to touch water, it seemed a lot like chorus juice, just lacking the faint fruity scent. It probably tasted a bit different too.

"Here," she said handing me the bottle, "you look parched."

"Oh, um, thank you," I mumbled in reply, taking the bottle from her, but not moving to drink from it. She stopped filling up another bottle to give me an odd look.

"Well, if you get thirsty, just say something. We've got lots of spare bottles," was her final comment as she refilled the bottle before capping it and placing it back in her pack. As she rose to her feet, I glanced around the island- it wasn't very big, but the trees did look interesting. The branches were fairly low, it'd be incredibly easy… Setting the water bottle back on the ground, I stood up.

"Hey Rachel, do you like climbing trees?" I asked her.

"Um, I've never tried." she replied. "Never been in a place with the trees for it, either."

"Hm," was the only reply she received before I took a few steps forward and jumped up, wrapping my hands around the lowest branch. I hauled myself up onto it before twisting around to face Rachel, who was watching me in an interested sort of manner.

"Come on then," I told Rachel, with a weak smile.

She sighed, saying "If I fall and break my neck I'm blaming you." It seemed like a joke that should be taken as such, but.. Just in case, I nodded and said, "ok," in the most serious voice I could muster given the situation.

As she stepped over to a spot somewhat below me, I stuck out my hand to help pull her up. She gladly accepted it and with a pull (of course, it seemed she did most of the work) I managed to get her onto the branch. She just sat there for a moment, clinging onto a branch.

"You afraid of heights or something?" I asked her as I stood up, balancing with little trouble on the branch.

"We're only, like, seven feet off the ground," she replied. "I just don't want to fall, is the only problem."

Stepping lightly on the branch so as not to shake it much for Rachel's sake, I walked towards the trunk, feeling glad that spending hours upon hours walking, gliding, and climbing my way through the chorus tree forests had made me comfortable with not only heights but balancing on slender branched that bounced with every step.

Once I was at the trunk of the tree, I grabbed the branch above me and hauled myself up, then on to the next one, using a fork made by a branch connecting to the trunk.

I walked over to a spot where I could get my legs around the branch before turning to face away Rachel. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw her watching me confusedly, and I just turned away to hide the slight smile on my face. Sitting down, I took a breath before falling backwards, elytra falling half-open, before coming to dangle with the rest of me. My legs caught me so that I just swung back and forth upside down, but Rachel's reaction when I almost hit her in the face was priceless. I laughed loudly while she scoffed.

"You could have knocked me off! Or fallen and- I dunno, broken your neck or something!" she shouted angrily.

"But I didn't." I replied, smiling. "I've had years of practice doing this, calm down. Of anyone falls, it'll be you. And then it'll be my turn to scold you."

Her angered expression gradually changed to a slight smile, before breaking into a grin as she began to laugh, shaking the branch she was perched on. Joining in, I gave a breathy, quiet laugh of my own.

When her own laughter finally subsided, she looked up at me, creating eye contact. "Where did you learn to do that, the climbing and stuff so well? Did someone in your family teach you?"

Oh, I knew about families. They were groups of people that were related to each other, along with some other things like people with certain relations having special titles- like mother, grandfather, niece, etc. The ender didn't have that kind of thing, or at least not in the same sense as the Overworld did.

"Oh, I don't have a family," I replied nonchalantly. It was never something I really cared about or was interested in. I mean, I had a few friends from a nearby homestead, but no one very close in any sense.

Still, her expression morphed into something I was fairly sure was pity. "I'm sorry, for that. I-"

"No need to apologize, seriously. I've never thought I needed a family anyway."

She didn't comment on this, instead staying quiet. Not sure if she was talking to someone else or just thinking, I chose not to interrupt.

Instead, I pulled myself back up, being the feeling of all the blood rush to my head was starting to hurt. Looking down, I saw the guard Rachel had said was named Jared appeared at the bottom of the tree.

"Have you seen Aurora?" he asked Rachel, completely unaware that I was right above him, as the black cloth I wore blended fairly well into the darker parts of the thick green leaves around me. "Gold faction has summoned her."

Before Rachel could reply, I slid forward off the branch, landing on my feet right in front of Jared. He was so shocked that when he jumped back he rocked on the back of his heels, nearly losing his balance- which I suppose is something considering this is a trained warrior.

"Aurora, I presume?" he asked after regaining his composure.

I nodded, "Yes, that'd be me," and with that he began to walk towards the meeting house with me trailing after him.

Stopping at the door to the meeting room, opened the door slightly, before stepping aside and motioning for me to go in.

I was a bit confused about why I was needed in there, sure, but I wasn't going to refuse, so after taking a few deep breaths, I stepped inside.

The interior was mostly taken up by a long table made of some sort of dark wood- probably spruce or dark oak, contrasting to the light wood of the floor, likely birch. Everything was lit by some sort of yellowish lamp, which was nice. However, as I felt the stares of the people in the room bore into me, I couldn't help but look down.

I forced to move my eyes from looking somewhat downwards to giving a more level stare, but not meeting the gaze of anyone in the room

"Aurora," Ryan began, motioning for me to move to stand at the foot of the table, "would you be comfortable sharing a few details with us about your home? Obviously it is a populated area and functional society, but for research purposes we'd appreciate hearing some more about it, such as our treatment of the Nether."

I wasn't familiar with how they treated the Nether, but I wasn't sure the ender would appreciate me sharing everything. So maybe just a few things? But nothing important, of course. These were leaders, though, so I felt they could be trusted with acknowledging the existence of the End.

"W- what do I talk about?" I asked.

"Just start with the terrain," someone I didn't know answered. I nodded, taking a moment to think about what I was going to say.

"Um, the End is just a whole bunch of floating islands made out of stone, covered in trees and buildings."

They seemed better with asking me questions now.

"Is there really a dragon?"

"Yes. He's like nothing you've ever seen!" That put them off a little, despite the fact I didn't even mention what he could do.

"You mentioned trees?"

"Chorus trees. Really tall, covered in flowers and fruit, always in bloom, grow very fast."

"How about an army?" This came from the man Rachel had nodded towards in recognition. I wasn't very comfortable with answering this, so I said nothing, instead standing quietly- although I knew the answer. There was a large group on the central island that protected the king, not that he really needed it, as well as those one the outer islands. Of course, anyone authorized to travel to the Overworld was also schooled in self defense.

Anyway, he seemed to sense my hesitance to speak on this particular topic, but thankfully a woman sitting a few seats down from him, and across from Ryan, spoke.

"Now, my brother told us about your being unable to use telepathy. How do you communicate with those in the End?" She motioned towards Ryan on "brother," so I guessed they were related.

"We have our own language. It's pretty easy to pronounce, but there are are... Um, like, other sounds kinda mixed into it that make it sound rougher and more 'bubbly,' I guess. We read and write in runes, the old language. There's telepathy, but it's... Different, I guess."

"Could you give an example? Of speaking, I mean." She asked.

What should I say to them? "Smon nìprrte' oe frrfeien," I began, "which roughly translates to 'Nice to meet you, I'm happy to visit.'" Which was true, I suppose.

"Thank you, Aurora," said Ryan, "that should be all, since there was my report as well."

"One more question." Said the man that had asked about the army. "The fruit, you mentioned. Can it cause teleportation? If not, what does?"

"Under the correct circumstances, yes." I answered. Obviously, I couldn't teleport. It had been discovered several years ago that it was a combination of genetics and the chorus that made teleportation, although there was talk about doing something or another that would let disabled ender teleport. While I was interested, I had never really gotten into it.

"Alright, Aurora, you can go now," Ryan said before moving to address the rest of the group, "Now that you've heard what I've needed to say about my small journey over the past month, we can move onward. Korbin, how did the matter with-"

I shut the door as quietly as I could, not accustomed to having a solid cover instead of an open doorway or cloth cover.

 **-?'s POV-**

I looked out over the underground lake, seeing the light from the glowstone reflect off the water. The meeting was basically over, mostly just the leaders exchanging goodbyes. No matter, I could care less at the moment and was fine just waiting out here. As I leaned against the quartz wall of the meeting building, well, room, the only thing I could think of was Naomi. She had to be one of the two Ender faction members that I wasn't able to kill- they escaped before I could, and got me tossed out of my old faction with it. And to think, I hadn't been working alone, either! Dee (an affectionate name for a mutual friend) and I had both been plotting, but no, only me!

Not to mention I wasn't alone- I was followed to my next faction. I think she- Naomi, that is, recognized me, and for that I'm worried. My life was going fairly well until she showed up. I had tried to forget my time in Horse faction and make a new one in Gold faction, but with Naomi and that girl, Aurora, showing up my it seemed that what I had built had been thrown off course.

I was about to follow the rest of our five-person band from Gold faction back up the walkway and to the caves, but I felt a hand on my shoulder, stopping me from moving. I was about to whirl around and confront them, but they whispered in my ear, "Don't turn around, don't say a word, and don't be afraid."

I knew that voice- it was Korbin, leader of my old faction. His birth name was, er, Dante, I believe, but he changed it when he created Horse faction.

"If you want to regain your honor, I suggest you listen," as his words sunk into me I felt my spirits rise. I knew he would never let me in for free though. I knew there'd be a price, but how bad could it be?

"Three nights from now I want Aurora dead, and if she is, meet me on sky peak. Do that, and… well, I suppose we'd have to throw a welcome home party," he murmured softly, a dangerous tone.

"Why…?" I asked. This was an important opportunity, and even if it wasn't the best idea to ask questions… I wanted to know.

I listened carefully as he gave me a quick overview of his idea as we walked slowly across to the walkway. Just as the last word left his mouth, his hand disappeared from my shoulder and he faded into the shadows of the dark valley with his general, healer, and guard.

As I caught up with Ryan and Luna, I tried my best to keep a blank face. When we left the valley and set up camp a short ways off, the fire light from some other faction just barely visible in the distance. The only thing it seemed I could think of was his offer. I already had blood on my hands, what was another one, for such a good offer? Aurora was special, that was for sure- but she was still nothing but a young girl, no one important.. One who couldn't use a sword to save her life, at that. But I could. It would be so easy… I may not even have to use a weapon, a TNT rig, a poisonous potion…

It would be so easy to end her, she'd be forgotten in no time, and I'd go home.

But what was home, to me?

I sat at the fireside, staring into the flames, wondering which one of my loyalties was more important to me- my birth faction, or the one that took me in I was thrown out?

Looking away, I saw Aurora and Luna, talking and laughing with Ryan by the fire. At least, Luna was, and Aurora, the naive little girl, was doing her best to roll with things, as it was painfully obvious to me she didn't understand. The bundle of rage within me exploded with anger as I made up my mind. Aurora was going to die- but she wouldn't be the only one.

Others would die have to die as well. I had a feeling Naomi knew more about Aurora than she let on- I saw the flash of recognition in her eyes when she saw Aurora in the med-bay. Maybe it was how she looked. Maybe the things on her back. Either way, she seemed to be just as good as I was at judging character, and she had her eye on me, I could tell.

And then there was Luna. Even if she died, well, she wasn't crucial to the plan anyway. I didn't know the exact details, but I had enough of an idea, and General Luna didn't fit into it. I had… never particularly liked her anyway, for, er, reasons. Reasons having to do with someone she was "close" to. I had a knack for seeing through people, and she didn't exactly hide it as far as I could tell.

But I had no time to act like a love-sick teenager, any feelings like that had been crushed from my heart years ago. She'd be out of the equation anyway, soon enough.

It was all I could do not to jump up and kill them, right here, right now, but there were more guards than I could probably handle, despite being so experienced. If I killed Luna, Aurora, and Naomi without anyone knowing, I could join Horse faction, and still remain in Gold faction, undercover, to convince Ryan that he should follow Horse faction. If he did that, then Cobble and Quartz would too. The meeting did enough to confirm some suspicions, but who knew what each faction was really up to underneath the cover of peace?

"Hey, you okay?"

The voice snapped me out of my swirling, tumbling thoughts. Doing my best to keep myself straight and normal, I took but a moment to compose myself.

"Just fine," I replied, "Just… fine."

* * *

Chapter written by Author 2 with the second POV by Author 1.

Note from Author 2: Ugh, this took longer than expected to finish- this was a really difficult chapter to write. With any luck the next chapters will come up faster since they've been planned out really well and we're pretty excited to write them ^^

Oh and if you know what language it is that we're using for the End (without Googling!)... I would want to give you a hug. Except I don't like hugs... So you just feel good about yourself!


	17. Tour

I blinked rapidly as we entered the dark tunnels that led down to Gold faction. The journey home had been average. We left after saying goodbye to our friends and allies, but Jayde left with Cobble faction about half way instead of coming back with us to spend the night like she normally did, saying she had to be back to oversee construction on their defences. Aurora seemed to be getting use to riding the horse- that is, until she was nearly thrown off it when the things on her back accidently blew back in the wind, startling the horse. It took off into a gallop, about ready to run off to who-knows-where, but luckily Rachel was near her and quickly grabbed hold of the reins.

As we walked down the tunnels in the dim light from the torch in the guide's hand I couldn't help but notice that more than one person seemed to be frequently glancing at Aurora, who was walking towards the back of the group. I couldn't blame them- it sure did shock most people when Ryan announced she was from the End, as while Rachel wasn't even in the room at the time, I felt sure that she had heard during the walk out. Of course, anything overheard there was not to be repeated without permission, so word hadn't gotten out to everyone.

Dragon had unfortunately been taking a gulp of her water when he announced it, and the poor healer ended up nearly choking on what she had just drank- at the very least, she hadn't spit it out at Quartz's own healer sitting across the table from her. Jayde's eyes widened a bit, but she trusted her brother enough not to question him. Marek, the leader of Quartz, looked at Ryan as if he was nuts before shaking his head in frustration, waiting for an explanation.

However, Korbin, Horse faction's leader, seemed intrigued. He proved that more so when he asked Aurora about if the End had an army. She definitely didn't seem comfortable answering the question, and replied with a very vague answer. Korbin was up to something, the way he was asking question after question once Ryan explained what had happened. He had always been one of our… Least "favorite" allies, as he had been such close allies with Ender faction, our ex-enemies. Well, he cooperated with them, even if he seemed to have some sort of distaste for a few members in particular.

I glanced over to the guide, thinking I heard him say something aloud, but whatever it was he seemed to be murmuring under his breath. Listening closer, I realized he was mumbling letters as we walked, a new one arising in the series at every turn. Blinking, I realized that this was how the guides remembered the path, as it was changed at random intervals- by assigning a letter to the pathway direction they needed to go on, then repeating this combination as they walked as sounds. Obviously it still required a great deal of precise memorization, but it was better than having a map on them (although I was pretty sure the newer guides often wrote the letters on their arms or something in the case that they forgot).

Stepping to stand closer to the front of the group with the guide, I began to listen in on him, doing my best to memorize some of the letters.

Before I knew, it we were nearing the main area. The roof got much taller, and the sight of what we called the "meeting tree" made me smile. We hadn't meant to only have one tree here- it was suppose to be a whole farm, but when my parents and Ryan's dad died we decided to bury them under the first tree we had planted in Gold faction. My mother was the first to die, followed by my father, then Ryan's last parent.

He never cried, or at the very least not around me, or anyone else in the faction. Instead, he stayed strong and lead us with as much confidence as he could muster at the time. He was only eighteen when his dad passed away- dying in battle- while I was seventeen when my own father passed. Thinking back, I could remember when Ryan and I were in our early teens- we would climb the young tree, seeing who could get to the top the quickest. Ryan almost always won, but I did manage to beat him a few times. Since then, the tree had become off-limits to climbing, in case someone damaged it.

I smiled at the happy and sad memories that revolved around the beautiful tree. We didn't plant

any more around it after my mother died, but decided it was to be the place where all leaders and captain's personal items would be placed when they died. When someone dies, they never leave a corpse- instead, they fade off into nothingness.

There's always the chance that someone will respawn- the only problem is, some never do. The only way someone can have the slight chance to respawn is if they died an honorable, or innocent, death, and even then extremely young children rarely are given this new chance. In the chance that they were to respawn, they would be far, far away, at best- so all you can do is promise them that you'll hope to see them again someday. Age-related difficulties aren't something that deems respawning, either. You only live once, really.

I shook my head, not wanting to tear up, and I thankfully didn't. I rarely cried in a mournful way in front of others. Still, when my father had died and I was left with no other family, Ryan was still there to support me. I couldn't ask for a better leader and friend.

The echoing sound of footsteps coming from the northern hall pulled my eyes away from the tree and to the sound. Rose came skidding to a halt, panting and gasping. She scanned our group before laying her eyes on Dragon.

 _Dragon, it's Naomi, the gash on her side has gotten worse! I think it's infected!_ she panted, stepping towards Dragon who was leaning against a wall to rest from the long walk down the tunnels.

 _I'm coming,_ Dragon replied as she pushed off the wall, racing down the hall with Rose trailing after her.

Aurora seemed pretty worried even though she couldn't hear what was going on. Naomi was a nice, strong girl, I didn't think her wound was that grave, but apparently it was. With a quick glance at Ryan- who replied with a nod- I motioned my hand for Aurora to follow and we made our way after the medics, just not quite as fast, instead at more of a jog.

As we entered the med-bay I was met with the foul stench of a strong medicine. Most potions were odorless, but the one they were using obviously wasn't.

Dragon came over from a pool of water, her hands dripping. She dried her hands on a pristine white towel made from white wool before slipping on a pair of rubber gloves, probably to keep Naomi's wound from getting even more infected.

Rose was patting a damp wash cloth on Naomi's forehead with a look of worry. At one point a strand of her red hair fell into her vision, but she didn't even blink. Naomi was not doing too good. She was sweating while shivering, her eyes were twitching, but she didn't open them, and every so often a painful moan would escape her lips.

Dragon kneeled down beside her so that she'd be able to see the wound. Some sort of unidentifiable emotion flashed across her face before she replaced it with her normal blank expression, and telling Rose, _It's not too bad, it just needs to be cleaned and a healing potion applied. It is a little infected, but as long as it is clean it won't get worse and she'll be walking around by lunch time._

Rose sighed, smiling, while Aurora still was worried. Vaguely, I wondered if she was in training to be a medic or something, although it was more likely she was just showing general concern.

"Don't worry," I told her, "she'll be fine by lunch. Come on, I'll give you a tour of the place, unless you want to leave right now." I hoped she didn't, I wanted to get to know her a bit better.

"I- uh- I'd like to see the rest of the base. I don't think I should leave until near dark, that way I'll be able to find an enderman to take me back." she replied, looking around.

Smiling, I started out of the med-bay with her trailing after me. Not quite sure where to begin as tours weren't exactly a common thing around here, I picked a random direction and started walking. Aurora walked beside me, taking faster strides to keep pace.

"So, um, where are we going right now?" She asked quietly after a long moment of awkward silence, furthered by how we were in a more, well, "remote" part of the faction.

"We're actually heading towards the mines right now. The miners have all come back in by this time of day, so it'll be abandoned." She nodded in response, thinking for a moment.

"Just to ask… Is there any chance at all that this place could collapse and we'd be crushed?"

She didn't say it in a cunning way, like she was planning on blowing us up or something. Instead, it was more of a worried tone. It made sense, of course, considering we were deep underground. "Well," I started, "the stone here is plenty solid, so don't worry about it, okay? And the support beams don't hurt, either."

She seemed a bit more visibly relaxed at this, so I chose not to mention how there was a gravel deposit sitting above one of the tunnels. If the stone beneath it were fractured, gravel could come spilling out of it. Fortunately, nothing short of a huge explosion could do that.

When we stepped out of the short tunnels a gasp was heard from Aurora when she saw the huge mines. We stood on one of many wooden bridges that crossed all over the ravines,the only things keeping us from falling into the glowing magma far below. They went deep down- almost to the bedrock, which was a stone so tough we were unable to mine through it- and far above, almost reaching the soil near the surface.

"My parents actually found these ravines while exploring an abandoned mineshaft. When they saw how many caves these ravines intersected, they realized how rich in ores this location could be. So, they cleared out part of the mineshaft and started building bridges to span the gaps. Not the entire mineshaft has been cleared out, though, so there are still some unrevitalized areas." I explained, remembering how dusty some parts were before Gold faction came.

My original faction was pretty small, small enough that we didn't need all the space that the mines provided. Instead we just used the main sections of the mines, and a few tunnels that for bedrooms.

"So, was Gold faction not always here?" Aurora asked as she peered off the edge of the bridge.

"Nope," I replied, "originally it was my parents' faction. Then Ryan's dad came and bought my parents out so that he could mine the minerals, and that way he wouldn't take it by force."

"That's horrible," she replied.

"Nah, that kind of thing happens fairly often, especially in smaller, weaker factions. My parents were glad in the end, as with his help we became one of the strongest factions. Ryan and his sister use to be in the same faction with both their parents, but when his mother got tired of constant raids and battles she and Jayde formed a smaller faction that was based around underground, self-sustained farming, mushrooms especially, and small mining. Ryan's dad decided to rename his faction from Diamond faction, to Gold faction."

"What happened to Ryan's mom, unless she is just at Cobble's base?" Aurora asked as she scanned the huge fissure once more.

"She was killed during a huge raid by Ender faction. They attacked in the middle of the night, as was their typical style, getting through their defences using ender pearls to teleport over the walls. Ender faction normally was a very peaceful fishing faction, so Jayde and her mother were not expecting any sort of attack." I glanced over at Aurora, who was frowning. I blinked, confused, before realizing why- ender pearls could only be obtained from killing an enderman.

"Why did they attack?" I glanced over at Aurora, who was peering over the edge of bridge.

"Well, at the time, Cobble had large walls built to enclose a small area around their base, to keep intruders out. One of the walls bridged over a river, which Ender faction often used to travel to villages farther inland for trading. When they refused to let Ender faction pass through, Ender chose to attack them, as a way to show that despite being peaceful, they wouldn't tolerate being pushed around to the point of having their entire livelihood destroyed."

"What happened to Ender faction after the attack?"

"Ryan's father was filled with grief and rage, and in that state he led a huge attack on Ender faction, completely wiping them out. Every house burned, every boat destroyed, and every member killed. Well, save for a small group that we knew of- an insane man who was on trial and close to being thrown from the faction, a woman that was renowned for her archery skills, and the leader. Any other surviving members either died off, or went far away, living under fake identities and joining new factions." And it was a good enough thing that the ran, as if we were to find them… Well, some members still had grudges.

"Where were you during all this?" she sure is curious. A frowned, not at the question but at how she was looking over the edge. Just as a precaution, I stepped forward to stand beside her. Below us was mostly magma, save for a small platform of stone jutting out from the mostly steepened walls of the ravine. From there, it was possible to get back up to here- although if she were to, say, jump from here, it'd be a rather "messy" fall, something I wasn't interested in seeing.

"This was years ago, Aurora. I was about ten then, and Ryan was eleven. We stayed here, at base, waiting for our parents to return. My mother… Didn't make it… and Ryan's father suffered from an arrow to the leg and had a limp that lead to him dying in a battle later on. My father died before him, but not by much."

"I'm sorry about your mother…" Aurora said like she meant it, but with a hint of confusion.

"What about you, do you have a family in the End?" I decided that it was my turn to ask questions.

"Nah, ender don't really 'do' families." she replied as if it wasn't a big deal, but how could anyone grow up without someone to love them?! "I mean, I obviously had parents, but I don't remember them or anything, so… Yeah."

"Do you remember what faction you were in before?" Before being the time when she was just a normal child.

"I- I don't think so." she answered.

"Did you always look like this, black hair and purple eyes? I mean, that's kind of an odd combination, especially for someone who just happens to be from… The End."

"When I was really little, I had dirty blond hair and green eyes, but because I ate the chorus fruit I, well, changed into what I am now." She seemed to only be half listening to me at this point, but at the very least she was answering my questions that I hadn't asked in specific at the meeting, as it was more personal questions.

Then out of the blue she jumped- literally just jumped off the edge! I stifled a scream and reached forward, trying to grab onto the back of her shirt, but to no avail. Suddenly the things on her back snapped open, catching the air beneath them and she began to... glide! She swooped around before landing on the platform below, while I just stood there with my mouth open and eyes wide, as I slowly began to register what I was seeing. I mean, I could remember my little observation about how she could glide… But I… I don't even know.

She climbed up a ladder so that she was on the same bridge as me once again smiling and skipping towards me like a little girl (which she was) who had just gotten a gift. Actually, no, she was smiling- smirking, more like it- like a little girl that was incredibly proud of the prank she just completed.

"That same thing worked on Ryan too." She said, that look still on her face. "Did you really think someone who grew up on a floating island would just fall off of a bridge?"

"I-uh, well…" I gave up and just sighed, causing little miss prankster to burst out laughing. I joined in half heartedly, it was pretty cool.

The sound of footsteps caused me to swivel around to see who had come. Naomi was standing in the doorway, smiling. Her side was bandaged heavily, stained a light pink, and she smelled of medicine, but other than that she seemed happy as a… Really happy person. I briefly wondered if she had seen or heard any of our little chat, but I quickly shook it off, thinking I would have noticed her had she been following us.

"You feelin' better?" I asked, almost sarcastically.

She laughed a little, "Yeah, and your elytra are rather lovely, by the way."

Aurora blinked in surprise and took a step back, "How'd you know what they were called?"

"I have a good friend who has, uh, read the legends of the End, rather obsessed he is. I use to live with him, and while I did, all he would do was babble about this and that. Saying he thinks he found a portal one moment, or something along those lines, and the next is talking about cooking with a passion. Two minutes later he's going on about pyrotechnics and blowing stuff up. Too much crazy for my tastes, so I left, although I still visit sometimes." she replied cooly.

Despite her tone, there was still something off about the way she said it. She seemed like an open kind of person, but still, I had some sort of suspicion concerning her statement, like she was, well, lying.

I was about to ask about this "friend" but she suddenly gasped and her hand flew to her side where her gash was. Oh no… With the amount of medicine they stuck on that thing, she shouldn't be feeling pain like that. This wasn't good.

"Stay right here, I'll get Dragon!" I half shouted to her as I took off across the bridge and down the tunnel.

 _Luna?!_ the voice of Rachel found it's way into the chat and my head jerked around until I spotted the scout leaning against a wall.

 _Naomi's wound is acting up, can you watch her and Aurora while I get Dragon? They're over by the ravines!_ I didn't want Naomi to fall or anything while she was in pain.

 _Got it!_ she replied before taking off in the opposite direction.

I skidded into the med-bay once I finally got there, revealing a startled Ryan and Rose, but no Dragon.

 _Where's Dragon!? Naomi's in pain over by the ravines!_ I asked, panting from the sudden sprint.

 _She left a few minutes ago. I don't know where she is._ Rose replied hastily looking up from where she was rewrapping Ryan's leg.

 _Dragon, where are you!?_ I shouted in the chat, but received nothing in reply. In fact, I wasn't even sure if she had heard it.

 _I think I saw her go towards the main sleeping wing, after she stuffed something in her backpack,_ a miner whom I hadn't noticed replied. He was sitting on the edge of one of the beds, wiping a cloth tinted pink with healing potion over a scratch on his arm. After a few swipes the scratch disappeared, and he slung his bag over his shoulder and headed out of the room.

 _Thank you,_ I called after him. The main sleeping wing was where the guards and other warriors lived, while the miners lived in another section, so I assumed someone had cut themselves on a weapon or something like that. I could always ask Rose if she could do anything for Naomi, but she was busy with Ryan.

As I started towards the door the sudden boom of an explosion shook the entire mineshaft, causing a bit of rock dust to fall from the ceiling, and for Ryan nearly fall off the bed he was sitting on and had his leg propped up on.

 _What the heck was that!?_ Ryan shouted. He quickly tied off the bandage and stood up- while he was still favouring his injured leg, he could at least put some weight on it.

 _I-I don't know!_ I replied while running out to the tunnel. Seeing a bit of gravel on the ground made my mind go to a very bad conclusion. Someone blew the gravel pockets open- we were under attack, and this time it had to be someone inside the faction. This was mutiny.

As Rose and Ryan joined me, Rose began to tear up. She was only fourteen, she didn't need to experience this. Ryan saw this and wrapped his arm around her saying it'll be okay. Then my heart dropped.

 _Rachel, Naomi, and Aurora are still in the mines! Most of the is gravel between us and them!_ I semi whispered.

 _Where did the explosion come from!?_ Ryan shouted into the chat, not aiming at anyone specifically, but just anyone in general.

 _The tunnels between the sleeping areas and the mines are toast!_ someone replied.

 _Oh no, Dragon is there!_ Rose shouted.

Then the sound of a scream echoed throughout the entire tunnel, it sounded like Aurora!

 _Luna!? Help!_ Rachel shouted in fear. My heart nearly stopped. Was it possible that Naomi had rigged an explosion, and was taking the moment of confusion to… Oh no. Oh no no no.

 _What happened!? Are you okay!?_ I shouted back.

 _I-It's Dragon! She's after Aurora and Naomi!_ I couldn't believe my ears. Dragon!?

 _What, why!?_ I shouted back while Rose gave such a terrified look you'd think she'd seen it for herself.

 _Luna, don't listen to her! It's Naomi, Rachel's working with her!_ That came from Dragon. I remembered how Naomi had cried out in pain, was it possible she was faking it?

More importantly, who could I trust?

 _Oh no! She-_ I was met with the murking silence. No…. No, Rachel!

 _Rachel!? Answer me!_ This can't be happening, this can't be happening!

 _Dragon what in the world is going on!?_ Ryan screamed while Rose whimpered.

 _Luna listen to me,_ this time it was Naomi, _Dragon is after us! Please run, I'll get Aurora out of here!_ Who in the world do I believe!?

 _Rachel…?_ I was scared to ask, but I needed to know.

 _Dragon's wounded her, she fainted... Run!_ Nope, not gonna happen.

Without a word I took off down the tunnel, Ryan calling after me. It can't be true!

I skidded to a halt when I was met by a wall of gravel blocking my path. I shook my head. The gravel deposit was large, I wasn't sure if I could dig my way through it in time…

Then there was another scream, Aurora again. Steeling myself, I whirled around and ran in another direction, pausing at what should have been a dead end. However, it was now covered in a temporary wooden blockade set up to keep people out, after one of the support beams broke.

Taking a deep breath, I grabbed a hatchet out of my bag, before beginning to ram it into the wood. Swinging it again and again, I finally heard a crack as the blockade failed. Running into the narrow corridor, I practically skidded around a corner, coming across the ravine.

My breath caught in my throat as I saw the scene before me. Even all the way over here, loose gravel littered the ground, which was… I saw a red smear on the ground, and I stifled a gasp.

Suddenly, I heard the scuffling of gravel behind me. Drawing my sword, I was half a second away from stabbing whoever it was behind me, but I froze just in time, as I saw that behind me, was Rachel. And she was bleeding- I could see red soaking her shirt.

"Rachel!" I called, not using the chat. She needed to focus on my voice, instead of the faint shouting from other members of our faction. My sword fell from my hand as she collapsed into my arms. I slowly laid her down, sitting up against the wall.

"I told you to run," she said in a voice filled with both fear and even anger that resulted in her coughing up a little bit of blood, "She'll come back to kill you too."

"Why did Dragon do this, you're no traitor, are you!?" I was on the verge of tears. Rachel was a good friend, and I didn't want to believe that she would betray us.

"I tried to stop her from killing Naomi from behind. She kept shouting at me, that I was the one that followed her, what do you know. She always know that I was only here to keep a eye on her." She took a long, heavy breath.

"Wha- huh?" I was completely lost at this point.

"I followed her from Horse faction to make sure nothing happened like before. I guess I failed huh? I just hope that Naomi was able to escape with Aurora."

"But why was she after them?" I asked, frantic.

"Luna, Korbin is going to try and… And…" Oh no. Terrified, I grabbed her hand and sure enough…

As we leave no corpse, someone's body just disappears. And her hand was beginning to fade.

"Rachel, please, I need to know." I watched her eyes go to her hand, and she stared at it grimly, knowing that by now it was too late to be saved.

I stooped down, listening in as she weakly began to explain what she had overheard at the meeting. Halfway through, she paused for a long moment, and I shook her, hoping to keep her focused.

"Rachel, I won't let your death be that stupid cliche where someone dies right before they can say something important. Come on, you can finish telling me."

She nodded, and continued, pausing every few words to take a shaky breath. When she finished telling me what she had heard of his plan, I still had questions, but I knew that it was getting to be too late.

"Rachel," I said, making sure she could clearly hear me, "when you respawn, and I know you will, you'll be welcomed back into Gold faction as a hero. Thank you."

She was fading fast. Quickly, I pulled my close friend into a hug, before letting her fall against the wall. It wouldn't be long now- but I couldn't stay with her. If the plan was correct, she could very well be coming for me, as well as Ryan, and permanently eliminate the leaders in the faction. Dragon was an expert warrior, despite being a medic, and I knew I couldn't take even a slight chance.

We'd have to run away from the faction, for the time being. I just had to hope that it would be okay here without us.

* * *

Chapter written by Author 1 with help from Author 2


	18. The Escape

**Aurora's POV**

I don't know about anyone else, but it can be awfully terrifying when someone you don't really know yells for you to run because hey, you've got a murderer on your tail!

My breath came in heavy pants as I ran into the mines, following Rachel's instructions- I'd escape through the "back door" of sorts in the unrevitalized part of the mine. Had I not been running for my life, I would have been thinking about how good it was I had a lot of stamina.

Rounding a corner, I nearly shrieked as I ran through a thick cobweb. Slowing down because of it, I shook my arms around, doing my best to get the sticky threads off of me. Practically punching my way through them, I brushed a few clinging stands off of my arms as I once again broke into a run.

Was I even heading the right way? I let out an "oof" as I stumbled on a random stone sticking out of the ground, but thankfully I didn't fall and kept going. What was it she had said? I wasn't quite sure I even remembered at this point.

Taking heavy breaths, I paused for a moment to lean against the cold stone, trying to gather my senses. Surely Dragon wasn't right behind me, I had been running like a maniac. Actually, no, I had been running like I was being followed by a maniac, which I was.

Okay, what were the directions? I had to loop around the corridor to get around the gravel, and from there I was supposed to go straight for… How long? Out of frustration I pounded the heels of my fists into my forehead, trying to get the directions right.

Then I heard it- footsteps. Running, feet slapping against the ground as they rounded the corner, each step echoing along the narrow pathway.

Oh no… It was Dragon, I was sure of it. Inhaling sharply, I dashed out from where I was standing, making a break for the nearest turn. And… There! This was where Rachel had told me to go, a large cavern! She had said there would be a small bridge going across, if I could make my way over it I would be able to get up the ladder and escape to the surface!

In the final stretch of my terrifying run, I felt a new burst of energy come through me, and I put on a new burst of speed. Then I froze, at the very edge of the cavern, pinwheeling my arms so that I wouldn't go tipping over the edge.

The bridge was broken. What was I going to do now?!

I frantically surveyed the cavern floor below me. Well, not exactly floor- this wasn't really a cavern, instead an underground river. Water was rushing below me, spraying up at the sides and streaming through the middle.

The footsteps were behind me now! In a last ditch effort, I jumped, hoping I could glide to the other side. Oh please, please make it.

I glanced behind me as my feet left the edge and met air, feeling a hand swipe for where I had been standing less than a moment before. I couldn't make out the figure in the dark of the gorge, but-

The shadows not only consumed my pursuer, but they engulfed any obstacles. For example, a hanging stalactite in my path.

I screamed as I swerved to avoid my head and shoulders taking the worse of the impact, but only managed to practically fall into it. I felt a blunt blow as I crashed…

And then began to fall down, towards the swirling, tumbling waters below me, unable to catch the air beneath my elytra, feeling dizzy and weak.

I barely registered it as I fell into the water.

 ***~Fanfiction accept my skippy marks~***

 _Wild and anxious; for all know that the price is stark –_

 _If you choose to follow the wisp's glowing mark._

 _'For all know the price will be stark!' they scream,_

 _'When all you are following is a faltering beam.'_

 _Yet nothing is, as it may seem._

 _So be wary! If you choose to deem –_

 _All will-o'-the-wisps as faded dreams._

I blinked, looking up from where I had been playing with my toys, my mother looking back at me. _Y'know, sweetie, that's the poem that gave you your name._

"Willow?" I asked aloud, being too young to use the chat but able to hear it. She nodded.

 _Some people say that it's bad luck to follow a will-o'-the-wisp, because they think you'll get lost. But others believe that when you follow them, they'll lead you to a hidden treasure- like you._

I smiled at this and laughed. However, after a few moments, I heard a knock at the door. My mother jumped up to get it, and I watched as she opened it up and someone came in. I recognized the woman, but didn't know her name.

 _Caroline, troops from Gold faction have been spotted rallying. We believe they're... They're coming after us, as revenge for Cobble._

 _Oh no..._ My mother whispered. I went back to playing with my toys, not really caring about whatever it was they were talking frantically about. _Are our own troops gathering to meet them?_

 _We're going to try a stealth attack, surrounding them and picking them off along the mountain ridge just past the snow line, and then meeting them in combat at the start of the forest. They're strong with many troops and supplies, we won't be able to hold them off forever, especially if we can't take enough of them down through ranged attack._

 _How do you know they'll be coming down from the ridge?_

 _Intel from Horse faction. Yeah yeah, I know you don't trust their leader, but why would he give us false information?_ I glanced up, seeing my mother shrug.

 _Do you need me? I- I can help prepare supplies, or-_

 _No. The leader doesn't want to evacuate, saying we'll be able to defeat Gold, but... Just in case... I want you to run. Get away from here. It's not safe._

 _Naomi, I can't leave this place. If it comes to it, I'll die protecting my home. Now if you don't mind, I need to get Willow into bed._

 _You'd put yourself and your family in danger for that?!_

 _Yes, I would, and I'm not leaving._

The woman turned away on her heel and stalked off, my mother shutting the door after her. Sighing, she turned to me. _Alright sweetie, let's get you ready for bed._

 **Luna's POV**

I numbly marched back along the tunnels towards Ryan and Rose. I'd never been happier that the young medic had been with us at the time, we'd need her. As I approached Ryan and Rose they looked at me then looked behind me, hoping to see Rachel, but to their despair my friend wouldn't be coming. With one look Ryan knew the sad truth, Rachel was dead. Rose let out a sob and hugged Ryan like the young girl she was on the inside.

We all thought of Rose like a little sister who needed to be protected from life's hard truths, that's why she became a medic. She hated fighting, so she chose the field that involved as little as possible. Her mother died when she was young, and her father went insane after because of grief and sorrow. No one knew until someone found Rose with bruises on her arms. He had abused her in his insane state, so we took her from him as soon as Ryan was alerted. She became an apprentice younger than most children because of this, while her father committed suicide before we could get him the help he needed.

Now before me I saw the same little girl, scared and crying. She admired Dragon, as a mentor and even a mother, and the idea that she was a murder was to much for her. I sighed, I didn't want to tell her, but I wasn't about to lie about something so crucial.

"We need to get out of here," I said just barely loud enough for them to hear me, "before Dragon figures out where we are."

"Are you sure it wasn't Naomi?" Ryan asked continuing to speak aloud so that other members wouldn't hear us, or Dragon for that matter.

"Positive," with that Rose let out a whimper and hugged Ryan tighter. He looked down at her, frowning before patting her on the back saying it'll be okay. Ryan was like a father figure to her, he wasn't gonna let her sort this out on her own.

 _Camron, you there?_ I asked in a private chat with the captain .

 _Yeah, is Ryan, Rose, and Dragon with you?_ he replied. Ryan cocked an eyebrow at our conversation, since I allowed him and Rose to hear us as well.

 _Not Dragon… She set the TNT. If you see her… Kill her._ Camron let out an audible gasp while Rose let a tear roll down her face. Oh, how I hated this!

 _W-why?_ he stuttered.

 _I'll explain later, but for now I need you to try and get everyone out of there from where you are. Get the miners to help break through the gravel, but don't go anywhere near it until it's deemed safe, the rock could still be unstable. I'm taking Ryan and Rose and getting our butts out of here, 'cause we're Dragon's next target._ I had a feeling that I was losing the captain, but I wasn't about to stand around while Dragon could be getting.

 _How are you gonna get out of there!? You're no guide!_ I hadn't thought about that. Then I remembered the guide I had been listening to as we came down here from the meeting. My memory was still fresh with the pattern and with a moment I was ready to go.

 _I was listening to one of the guides on our way down from the meeting, I know how to get out. You just worry about getting everyone to safety, make sure no one is left unaccounted for._

 _Alright, but be careful. Is Rachel with you?_ My breath caught and my dead silence seemed a good enough answer because he replied with an, _I'm sorry._

With that I turned my attention back to Ryan and Rose whose eyes had turned red from crying, but she seemed to be controlling it. Whether she wanted to believe it or not, Dragon was gonna kill Ryan and I, and if Rose got in the way I had no doubt in my mind she would murder the young girl as well. With any luck, Naomi and Aurora had escaped.

With a quick nod from Ryan I began to jog towards the exit by the meeting tree. As we passed it I couldn't help but fear that Dragon might do something to it, she knew Ryan and I cared deeply for it. Our parents were the ones who planted it, and they were buried beneath. I could see her burning it to the ground when she found out that we had escaped. Then I noticed a large seed near one of the roots. I kneeled down and picked it up while Ryan and Rose were checking their bags, making sure they had some food and water in them. I knew I had a loaf of bread because I had to shove it off my axe when I was trying to get to Rachel.

I quickly shoved the seed in my pocked on my jacket before standing and facing them. I don't think Ryan saw me take the seed, if he did, well, good for him. With a glance I began to lead my friends up the tunnel, trying to remember what the guide had said, and the path by memory.

"Are you sure you know where we're going?" Rose mumbled quietly. "I- I don't want to get lost."

"It'll be fine, Rose. Put some faith in Luna." Ryan replied.

Um, no. Don't put faith in me, there was a good chance I'd get us lost, not to mention I had to remember the guide's code backwards. Still, the explosion had blocked us off from much of the faction- this was the only passage I knew of that would get us out of here. There were other exits, of course- and I was sure Rachel had at least tried to point Naomi and Aurora towards them. We just had to hope, for both their sake and ours that we would escape this underground labyrinth.

' _Okay_ ,' I thought to myself. ' _What was it?_ ' I was fairly confident that "A" was left, "B" right, and "C" was for the central path.

Alright, the last turn we had taken was an "A," this I was pretty sure of.

"This way," I said, pointing to the right, my torch in my other hand. I had to remember that I was working backwards. If we went left coming down, we would need to head right going back up.

This was going to be a long walk.

 **Naomi's POV**

Oh for the love of Din! She jumped into the river. Well, not technically, but she's still in the river! I need to get her out before she drowns- and that means I have to go in. Just because I had faked my side hurting to get Luna to run back to the med-bay didn't mean that I wanted to test the injury.

"Okay, you can do this. All you have to do is jump. And swim, and possibly drown." I said, before stopping myself- I was beginning to sound like Ryder! I was an incredible swimmer, but this was a flippin' raging river! I quickly swung my little project I had been working on during my time in the med-bay over my shoulder and head to make sure I didn't lose it in the current. The project, of course, was a new, hand-made bow to replace the one that had been broken when the mobs were after me. My quiver was slung beside my backpack.

I backed up a few paces to give myself a running start before leaping off the cliff and grabbing onto the stalactite. I gripped the rock tightly and looked around for Aurora, my head swiveling in every direction before spotting her half emerged in the dark water. "And of course she's halfway down the bloody river. It just had to be a river, why not make it feathers, or a ball of slime? It'd make to landing a whole lot softer." I complained to myself. Sliding down the stalactite, I took a deep breath before letting go, my tattered cloak billowing out behind me, the hood slipping off of my head. I flipped around so that I could execute a dive, getting into position just before plunging into the drink. As expected, it was freezing cold- but I had free dived countless times before. I felt sure that the cold wouldn't be the thing to end me, as long as I could get out soon.

" _Ugh, everything is so dark._ " I thought to myself, not wanting to open my eyes beneath that murky water for fear I would get hit in the face by some sort of debris. Splashing my way up to the surface of the toiling darkness, I caught sight of her once more, before propelling myself in her direction, kicking my feet. I reached her, grabbing her arm, and holding her tightly as the river threatened to pull us both under. " _Now, I just need to get out of here._ "

Crashing into a rock, I felt the blow rattle through my body, but luckily I hadn't had the wind knocked out of me. Forcing Aurora's limp body up against the rock, I struggled to get us both into a position that wouldn't have us be washed away.

As soon as I did, I quickly placed a hand against her neck, feeling for a pulse. I sighed, relieved, as I felt it beating away, good and strong. I wasn't really sure what my next move would be if I found she had drowned, or say, broke her neck.

Okay, so she was alive. That's good. So was I. The only problem was staying alive. The river had a good air pocket above it, but I wasn't sure that it was a good idea to try and brave the river- obviously it went somewhere, I just didn't know where.

Still, I could feel the water splashing against me. No, scratch that, it was pressing us hard against the rock we, well I, was clinging to. Taking a lung-filling breath, I let go of the rock, pressing Aurora's nose shut and hoping that she wouldn't drown in her unconscious state.

The moment we were freed from the (relatively) safe haven of the rock, the current began to tug us along. In all actuality, it was dragging us, constantly trying to push us down into the water.

Okay, gotta keep thinking straight. The center of the current should be the easiest to navigate in. So, doing my best to keep Aurora's head out of the water, I pushed off of the wall, nearly skinning my knee in the process, and paddled hard against the water to get there.

At this point, I knew there wasn't anything more I could do for us, so I just accepted my "fate" of sorts and, well, went with the flow.

 ***~Fanfiction accept my skippy marks~***

I gasped, breathing deeply as my head broke the surface of the water. I quickly pushed Aurora's face out of the water, making sure that she tooks a breath of air and not liquid. At this point, I wasn't up for dealing with a drowning girl on top of her being knocked out.

With deep strokes, I began to swim over to the shore. The underground river had emptied out into a lake, but fortunately I had years of experience in the "wet." Once I was able to touched the lake bottom, I began to use this to my advantage, as while my stamina was great, being dragged around through an underground river and struggling to keep both myself and another afloat could really sap my strength.

Finally, my feet touched dry ground as I pulled Aurora up and out of the small waves that lapped at the lake's shore, nothing like those of the ocean. My waterlogged cloak seemed to drag me down, and at the moment, I wanted to go with it. Man, I was just… exhausted. I dumped my bag, quiver, and bow onto the soil nearby me. Rubbing my hands together, I did my best to get some feeling back into them, which had been lost during my exposure to the frigid water of the underground river.

Taking heavy breaths, I proceeded to flop down tiredly, on my back in the grainy, wet soil- well, more like mud. Shutting my eyes, I could feel my arms and legs aching.

' _If I can find my way back home,_ ' I thought to myself, ' _I'm not gonna be the one doing the fishing for a while. I mean, ow, this hurts._ ' Although, I could still hope that I didn't strain any of my muscles.

Slowly sitting up, I raised my face to look for the sun. With any luck, I would have a few hours to find shelter for the night. I really couldn't hope that this was terrain I recognized- wait a second.

I quickly surveyed my surroundings. Wrapping around part of the lake was a mountain range, likely the same one Gold faction was located under. A split- no, a thing valley, more like it- in the large stone wall of the mountains housed what appeared to be a river, connected to the lake. Along the other side, the land flattened out, mostly covered by a thick swath of trees, except for a small section that was thinner, likely at the very edge of a plain. In fact, a small river, it could even be classified as a creek if I were really being honest, seemed to be branching off of it.

I didn't exactly have a map in my head, but I knew some things- when I had been attacked by mobs, I was running along a plain. We had then traveled into the forest, and finally into the deep mines of Gold faction.

Did that mean it was possible that I was exactly where I thought I was?

Yes. It did seem that way.

Okay, so I now had my surroundings, I knew where I was. What did that mean?

Simply enough, it meant I'd be heading home- and with any hope, I would get there before dark.

 ***~Fanfiction accept my skippy marks~***

I had watched the sun set, and with it went the sense of elation I had felt earlier when I learned how close I was to my home. My arms were aching from the fight to stay afloat in the river as well as holding onto Aurora, and it was taking its toll even more so now as I was forced to drag her along with me. Not to mention my legs were stinging, especially now as I walked, and walked, and walked some more. Luckily, she was a slender, lightweight girl, and so while I certainly preferred to be dragging her, it still wasn't enjoyable for me.

At the very least, I was in the final stretch of my journey- although I still had every reason to be on edge, as I wasn't really up for dealing with mobs. My skills were in stealth, using ranged attacks to take down any enemies before they could even register that I was there. It was part of how I was raised; I had never been a part of a warring faction like Gold, that favoured the sword over the bow.

I looked up, only seeing the large rising cliffs of stone that surrounded me. It wasn't exactly just the mountain range anymore. In this area, that river had spread out wider, the once fresh water becoming brackish. Large, dark oak trees made a thick canopy over this area, so while I felt it would be okay for me to light a torch for light as the moon was rising, I didn't feel like I could or should take the chance. With a final heave, I dragged Aurora through a little crack in the rocky wall that was the mountainous range.

Well, crack wasn't exact. It was more of a… a small tunnel that burrowed its way through the stone. It was tight, but one that could be made easily enough, even with my pack, bow, quiver, and another person.

And here I was- home.

Standing still, I paused to take in the sight before me, as it was always an awe-inducing sight for me, even if its origin was nothing good.

Years before, when I had lost my previous home, my best friend and I had nowhere left to go. Unsure as of what to do, we had done the only thing we could think of- we ran, hiding in our old… well, it was something of a childhood hideout.

The cliffs lined up right with the ocean, which was the cause of the brackish ponds I had passed by earlier. Normally it would be inhospitable, but with hard work over several years it had become something… it was something else. We had cleaned out the caves along the cliff, connecting them with paths cut from the stone that traveled up and down the rock face, sometimes bridged with wooden platforms. It had been only a temporary hideout at first, but at some point we realized it was home to us.

I took a step forward, hesitantly, wondering why there wasn't already the sound of crazed footsteps running up to me and-

I spoke too soon.

 _Naomi! You're back! Wow, this is great, because you were gone for a while and I was just so worried, but now you got back and, oh this is amazing news! I've been busy myself but nothing very new, I nearly blew up my lab again though, lucky I didn't, hehe. There's actually-_

Ah yes, meet Ryder, the one person that always kept me unsure as to whether the man was insane, incredibly smart, or just the average idiot. The pounding of tennis shoes on wood immediately greeted my ears as I just stood there, waiting for him to notice the fact that I wasn't alone.

I jumped back as he literally jumped off of the platform above me, landing hard on the stone. He was brandishing a small blade, probably just him cleaning fish, but coupled with the near maniacal grin on his face, it could be scary to someone who didn't understand that this was his average look.

As always, he was in his signature yellow waistcoat but when worn with sneakers and jeans it just looked off. I gave him a blank stare, almost counting to two before he started off again.

 _Are those elytra?! And they're attached to a person, would you look at that! Is she dead? Oh, I'd hope not, I'd like to meet her. Why isn't she moving? Did-_

My head snapped to the side as I suddenly held up a hand to stop his blathering. I had heard something, I knew it. Staring intently into the small crevice I had passed through, I saw nothing. But just in case… I let my gaze slowly drift away, before whirling back to the point I had been watching and-

In an instant, I had my bow down over my shoulder, an arrow notched and pulled back. "I know you're there," I began, speaking with my voice for emphasis, "and I'd recommend you come out with your hands up and weapon free, because I won't hesitate to shoot, and trust me when I say that I never miss."

* * *

Chapter written by Author 2, Luna's POV written by Author 1.


	19. Awakening

Ryder's POV

When Naomi has her bow aimed at you, you had better hope you're on her good side, because otherwise you'll be dead in an instant. It's scary, if I'm honest.

Slowly, three people emerged from the shadows. A man and a woman, as well as a young teen. I blinked, glancing at Naomi. "These your friends? Didn't know you were so social."

She ignored me, instead focusing on the strangers- probably figuring out who to shoot first if it came to that. "You followed me back to my own home." She stated simply, although in an icily tone of voice.

 _Naomi, d- don't shoot us, we had to run away from the faction._ I was fairly sure that came from the teenager. _Dragon might have come back for us, and we didn't know where to go, we saw you, and… well..._

Dragon?! Okay, okay, no need to think anything. Yet. As in, later for sure, but not right now.

"How do you know these people?!" I asked, completely confused. She shook her head; Naomi-speak for "long story, perhaps I'll bore you with it later."

 _I'm guessing this is Ryder?_ The woman asked, tipping her head slightly to the side. So, Naomi was talking about me behind my back, was she?! Hah, must have been spreading rumors about my dazzling grin.

"That'd be me." I replied with an exaggerated bow. Naomi sighed, lowering her bow but not removing the arrow; she was still on guard.

"Ryder, this is Luna, Ryan, and Rose," she began, not turning to look at me, still staring at the people who had followed her, "and the one I dragged back with me is named Aurora."

Aurora, ok, interesting name I supposed. And a Ryan?! That was practically my name! But I had to cast those silly thoughts aside, because look at her! A girl with elytra, what if her home studied the End like I did?! This would be an amazing opportunity!

 _Naomi. Please, we need your help, we don't have anywhere safe to go. The factions are littered with deceit, especially when you're in a disadvantageous place like we are._

What was going on here?! From what I was hearing now, it sounded like during the week or so she had been missing, she had been caught up in some crazy multi-faction conspiracy. It was madness!

Naomi sighed, _Talk to him, he's more precise about the place than I am._ Well, thanks for throwing me under the bus like that! You live here too, y'know! Thinking about it, she was probably only doing it because she didn't want to be responsible for a poor choice.

"You're, uh, you're welcome to stay a few nights, if you need to." I told them in a rather… bewildered tone, probably making it seem obvious that I had no idea what was going on here. Rose seemed a little nervous, and Ryan seemed to not want to let me near the girl, but Luna nodded and smiled, showing her thanks.

"That's very generous of you." Ryan said.

"Of course, least we can do, and if I'm honest, Naomi needs to get out more anyway, talk with more people." I jokingly put an arm around her shoulder, earning myself I glare from her that I ignored, until she smacked my hand away. I had barely noticed that I was still holding the small blade, but I certainly noticed dropping it.

While I fell to my knees frantically looking for it before the blade got sucked into the ocean or something, and likely looking like an absolute moron in the process, Naomi continued talking to the group.

No longer using her voice, she started pointing around the place. Finally wrapping my hand around the hilt of the blade, I triumphantly stood up with it, tuning into whatever it was she was going on about.

 _It's only the two of us here, we don't exactly expect visitors…_ She said, trailing off as she glanced around. The cliffs were high, she couldn't see where the moon was and neither could I, but considering it was just past sunset the time wasn't too late. I had actually just been starting to cook a meal right before Naomi dragged the girl in.

 _We've got some empty rooms cut into the rock you can stay in, I guess. There's nothing in them for the time being._ I said, contributing to the conversation. I still didn't know who these people were, but considering Naomi didn't shoot them already, I figured that it was okay.

She nodded, before turning to me. Oh look, I've been acknowledged! Interesting feeling- looks like boredom, tastes of cake.

Sometimes I confuse myself.

 _Aurora was knocked out. I know you're no medic, but can you-_

 _I'm a medic!_ That was the teen, Rose. I glanced over at her, and Naomi shrugged.

 _She helped me, might as well-_

 _Wait, what?! What happened?_ Okay, so it did make sense that she had something holding her up, but still… as the very least, she obviously had all of her limbs, and as a bonus she still had a head, so that was something.

 _Long story, shortened to one well placed arrow._ She replied. I filed it away as something that she'd most certainly be explaining to me later, but for the time being, I had other things to deal with.

"Alright," I replied, "c'mon then." I was lean, but still strong, and still easily managed to pick up Aurora. "You first." I motioned her to start heading up the pathway. She looked up a bit nervously, but began walking.

I was about to follow her when Naomi hurriedly tapped my shoulder.

 _Yeah?_ I asked, in a private chat.

 _Listen, and don't freak out._ She began in a forceful tone. _Don't tell these people where you're from. I'll explain everything later, just don't._

I put my hands up. Well, one hand, I didn't want to drop the girl. _Alright, I won't. Calm down._

She just shook her head, going back to address the other two as I began heading up the walkway after Rose. We were going to head up to, well, it had been called my "lair" at one point, but if we were going to be more "proper" in a sense it was just a lab. Although… when it came to reality, I wasn't even sure what it was, so we just went with whatever seemed the most fitting at the time.

 _So_ , Naomi was saying, _I guess since you're our guests we're kind of obligated to not have you die. Would you like some dinner?_

That statement probably meant that I would be the one preparing the food, because in all truth, Naomi could burn an apple whilst trying to pick it from the tree. At the very least, she was great at getting the ingredients as long as she didn't try and cook it.

 _Oh, um thank you. Y'know, you really don't have to do this. It's enough for you to be allowing us to stay, we brought some provisions of our own._ Ryan answered.

 _I'll put it this way. Would you rather eat some cold, stale bread you packed or some of whatever Ryder makes?_

 _Depends on whether or not it's edible._ Oh please, just because I don't live and work in some acclaimed faction's kitchen doesn't mean I can't cook a salmon.

 _So, old bread or fresh 'whatever?'_ Naomi asked as if there was only one answer, in a way that could be taken as a joke if not for the guarded way she said it. Honestly, I didn't see why she was so edgy with these people, as far as I could tell they were great!

After a moment of looks amongst the group Luna nodded her thanks. I decided I'd cook up some fish once I made sure Aurora was gonna be okay. You never know when someone could have a concussion. I quickly hurried up the steps along the cliff with Rose, walking slower towards the inside. I sighed as I passed her, not wanting to have to hold Aurora forever, she was starting to really get heavy.

I came to dump the girl unceremoniously onto a large, metal table in the corner that I basically never used. Not sure where to begin, I motioned Rose over beside me, from where she had been examining the plant I had growing in the center of the lab.

 _I've never seen that kind of plant before._ She said.

"It's a bit of a rare variety." I answered, not offering any further explanation. "Alright, so, uh… just gonna toss this out there, I have no clue what to do. You're the medic, so go on ahead!"

She blinked before nudging me aside. I watched her do… something, I wasn't exactly sure what, for a few moments before I gave up. Here, I was a bit out of my league, so to speak.

Sighing, I just chose to lean against the wall until she completed whatever it was she was doing.

 ***~Time Skip time, we all like to skip time~***

Although Naomi was still as cold as ever around people she didn't like, A.K.A the people that had followed her, they seemed to appreciate my excellent cooking.

 _Our faction doesn't grow a lot of food, so we mostly live on food from nearby farms on the surface or mushrooms we can grow underground, and even then a lot of it is stored, processed, dried, stuff like that. We don't have anyone who hunts or fishes specifically, so it's not too common that we get so much freshly prepared food._ That came from Ryan, as he watched me begin to scale a salmon.

 _Oh. Naomi and I were never in a faction like what you're talking about, being underground and such. We've always lived in places where it's easy to just go fishing when you need new food. Or hunting._ I replied. Like Naomi said, I wouldn't mention our old home. Nope, wouldn't do.

Fortunately, Ryan didn't ask where we had lived, so I didn't have to dodge the question. Well then, that works.

Carefully, so that I didn't get fish blood onto my waistcoat, I picked up all of the scales, walking outside and chucking them over the ledge to land in the ocean.

Turning back, I blinked in surprise as I saw Naomi standing practically behind me. She had some real skills with stealth, she really did. Of course, it didn't rival my own- just because I often wore a bright yellow waistcoat and tended to be loud didn't mean I couldn't employ stealth.

Glancing farther over on the cliff, I saw… Luna, was it? She was making her way along the pathway, paying careful attention to hugging the wall, which was a bit silly in my opinion. I mean, obviously the pathway was rather thin, but it's not that bad.

Trailing behind her was Rose, one hand on the rock. Wow, they were really making a big deal about this.

"Hey Naomi," I began, figuring they couldn't hear us from down here, "care to explain why they seem to think the water's gonna eat 'em?"

She sighed, "They grew up in mines, not seeing much in the way of an ocean. I doubt if Rose has ever seen anything besides an underground river." That must have been horrible, to not grow up around water. My old faction couldn't survive without the water for us to fish in.

I decided I'd go check on Aurora, make sure she wasn't getting too cold or something. Who knows, maybe she was even awake. I quickly ran up the path, passing Luna and Rose easily. As I turned into my lab I smiled at the sight of her shifting a bit before her eyes fluttered open. I must be psychic! Well, maybe not. Probably not.

Okay, I wasn't.

 **Aurora's POV**

I had been sleeping, quiet and undisturbed. But eventually my dreamless bliss had to end, and reality would come crashing back.

That, of course, was right now.

What was going on? My head hurt, a dull headache, but nothing more. My left arm was sore, but nothing bad.

"Oe tsengpe fitsenge?" I mumbled, tiredly, a bit dizzy. "Toktor? Srung oe srane?"

This was odd, it didn't seem like my homestead in the End. I had murmured 'Where am I? Will a medic help me?' but no one seemed to be around to hear me.

"Oh, er…. K- kaltaxì."

There was someone else here! But they had a weird accent, why would anyone be-

It was at that point that my mind thought it would be a fantastic idea to come up and remind me of the past few day's events. I forced my eyes open, only to see a blurry, unfamiliar grey ceiling above me.

Slowly, I lifted my right arm up to touch the side of my head where it was hurting, but I didn't feel that I was bleeding.

Moving to sit up, confronting the stranger, I paused as I felt a hand forcing me back down.

"Hey, uh, I'm no medic, but you really shouldn't be trying to do that yet. Aurora, right? Yeah, uh, d- don't."

I blinked hazily as my surroundings finally did come into better focus, and I became more alert. Standing above me was a man I didn't recognize, with dark black hair almost the same shade as my own and bright blue eyes.

"Pesu nga?" I asked, translating to 'who are you,' confused. Checking myself as I realized he wouldn't know what I was saying, I was about to say it again in the human language, but-

"Oe Ryder," he began, "nawm ultxa, Aurora."

I looked up at him, confused. What he had just said roughly translated into 'I'm Ryder. Nice to meet you, Aurora.'

"You can speak the ender language?"

He took a few paces back, out of my view, and I turned my head to see where he had gone. "Not very well, but I try."

He paused for a moment, frowning slightly. "Oh, I, uh… I guess I should get the others. Other people, obviously. They'd want to know that you woke up."

"Others?" First this guy- er, Ryder- is speaking a language humans shouldn't know, next he's talking about all these other people. How many are here? Not to mention, where am I?!

"Only a few people. Let's see, there's Naomi, then a Luna, a Rose, and a Ryan, I believe it was. You probably know them, they know you." Those were the people from Gold faction.

"Y- yes, I do."

He fell silent for a few more heartbeats, before resuming to speak. "I've told them you're awake. They'll be up here in a few minutes, what with them taking so long to walk on a perfectly good path that will most certainly not kill them-" he cut himself off, shaking his head. "Sorry."

The pain in my head had mostly subsided, so I took the chance to sit up, albeit cautiously. Rubbing my sore arm, I looked around. From what I could tell, I was in a cave, but at the entrance where some light was being let in, there was nothing. It just seemed to drop off outside. That was… odd.

Around me was a few tables, causing me to notice I was sitting on one myself, just with a few pillows and blankets tossed over for comfort.

I was suddenly forced to stifle a shriek as a strange, black… thing jumped at me. I nearly smacked it in my panic, thinking it was yet another thing trying to kill me.

"Hey- wait, don't-" Ryder said in a broken kind of sentence, making me stop my defense.

I shuddered as it nuzzled my arm. It was soft and fuzzy, with big green eyes and pointy, furry ears.

"Uh…" I said uncomfortably, "W- what is this thing?"

"It's a cat. My cat, actually. I'd really rather you didn't hurt her." He swiftly stepped forward, scooping it up in his arms. It seemed perfectly content to be there, and I wasn't in a hurry to have it back, so I was perfectly consensual with him continuing to hold it. I wasn't scared of it, just unfamiliar if it would do anything. Like the bats- I could have sworn they were going to swoop down on me, but none ever got close.

The sound of feet pounding against stone caught my attention, and I glanced back towards the only exit. Someone into view and I sighed inwardly when I saw it was Rose, the medic girl I had talked to back at the faction. Finally a familiar face, even if it was one I didn't know very well.

* * *

Chapter written by Author 2


	20. The Past

**Luna's POV**

I slowly crawled along the side of the cliff on my way up to Ryder, and Aurora who had apparently woken up. Rose had rushed ahead, but I'm just gonna go along at my own pace. I really didn't like these cliffs, none of us did, us being Rose, Ryan, and I. Ryan wasn't as bad as Rose and I, but that's because he spent his early childhood out above ground- while Rose and I grew up underground where we worried more about lava than water.

Naomi passed me and Ryan joined me. Why was everyone faster than me!? I wasn't too great with heights as it was, I mean I was fine underground because of the fact that half the time you didn't know if the fall was a few feet, or if it went down to bedrock. Out in the open I could see clearly how far down the fall was, and I didn't like it. How Aurora could live in the End and not be afraid of falling into the void bewildered me.

"Here, give me your hand." Ryan said holding out his hand. I took it and moved away from the wall. Using him to keep balanced we made our way up the path a little quicker than before. When we reached a ladder I began to climb it and Ryan followed.

As I peeked my head in I smiled when I saw Rose talking with someone that I couldn't see, but assumed it was Aurora. My suspicions were confirmed when I stepped in and saw the young girl lying on what looked like a table with blankets thrown on it. Naomi was talking with Ryder over in the corner of the room about who knows what, with Ryder occasionally making overblown gestures with his arms. He was certainly a strange person, I wasn't able to decide whether or not he was really smart or an absolute moron.

To my surprise a black and white face poked it's head out from behind Ryder where I assumed it must have been sitting. I didn't even know he had a cat.

"Oh, hi Luna. About time you showed up. At the speeds you were going I thought we were gonna have to wait 'till winter." Naomi said with a laugh. I glared at her, it's not my fault I grew up underground!

Ignoring her and rolling my eyes, I went straight to Rose and Aurora, Ryan following behind me. Despite having a small bump on her head, she seemed fine for having been washed away.

"Aurora, can you maybe answer some questions about what happened?" I asked her. I felt sorry that I had to be bugging her about this now, but if we waited any longer Korbin's plan would be going and hard to stop.

"Uh, a- about what?" She asked.

"About what happened when Dragon attacked. Anything that could give us an upper hand against her." Ryan told her.

She closed her eyes briefly before opening them again, "I- I can't tell you much. It happened... so quick." Not the answer I was hoping for. Still, I watched as her eyes became downcast. She wanted to help, but really couldn't.

"Would you like my say on the matter?" Naomi asked aloud from over where she and Ryder were talking.

I nodded my head and Ryan and I turned to face her.

"After the explosion Dragon came down from above. She jumped down from a higher up bridge. We never saw her coming." Naomi explained.

I nodded and turned to Ryan, he seemed to be thinking. I had told him about the plan, and where we needed to go. But before we left we needed to gather our strength. Ryder and Naomi would make strong allies, and we needed some of those.

"Oh, no! The fish!" Ryder suddenly shouted and went racing past us. Well, our dinner might be a bit burned. Rose checked over Aurora before smiling.

"You should be able to come down, you must be hungry. Ryder's making fish." Rose said, smiling.

"I-uh- don't eat meat." Oh right, this was minorly problematic. Personally, I didn't consider fish meat. But hey, she didn't do fish either, then. A'ight.

"I gotcha," Naomi told her before walking to the exit, "there's an apple tree just into the forest. I'll be back with a few." With this she climbed down the ladder.

 _Saved them!_ Ryder called into the chat. This man was an absolute lunatic.

After Aurora was off the tables the four of us began to head out. Aurora looked like she wanted to jump off the edge and glide down, but I stopped her quickly.

"I wouldn't." She turned her head so that she could look at her elytra. To her horror one of the wings was badly ripped, although the wireframe, or whatever it was, seemed intact.

She sighed before following us down the ladders and onto the platform. She swiveled her head around as she tried to take in everything around her. Ryan led us down the ramps carefully, though I had to hold onto his shoulders every once and awhile in order not to scream in terror. Rose was careful, but wasn't scared like me. Great, I'm being showed up by a fourteen year old. Speaking of fourteen, well, thirteen, Aurora was bouncing with inpatients looking like she wanted to pass us so badly.

Sighing I motioned for Ryan to move over, and soon the three of us had clung to the cliff edge. Aurora smiled before racing past us, running faster than a minecart could travel along the rails, yet her feet tapped lightly on the ground. It was like she was ghosting over the planks, making so little sound. At the very least, she enjoyed our way of getting around.

Gritting my teeth I pulled my hand away from the cliff wall before letting Ryan lead us down to the sort of dining room. Ryder had placed a few salmon in the middle of the table; they didn't look too bad, if that- and salmon had a reputation for being notoriously difficult to get right. I looked towards the entrance to see Naomi returning with a few apples in her arms. I blinked, surprised. If anything, I was as impressed by their food as I was their honesty and, well, friendliness.

I, out of habit, looked to Ryan to see what we were suppose to do. Despite taking care of a lot of things in the faction, Ryan was still my leader and I needed to follow his better judgment, even if it might seem silly for something as menial as this. Ryan gave a slight nod at two chairs on one side of the table and one on the other side. Ryan and I sat beside each other on one side while Rose sat in the third chair, leaving three unoccupied. Aurora chose to sit next to Rose.

Naomi came into the room briefly to grab a bowl with holes in the bottom and tossing the apples in. She then took the bowl outside and rinsed the apples with water from a small waterfall, pooling here and there before continuing onwards down the cliffside.

Aurora pointed to the waterfall, whispering something to Rose. From what I could hear, it was something along the lines of "see-yeh-na," although I really couldn't make it out. For a moment I had no clue what she was saying, before it occurred to me that she might be pointing out words in her language. She hadn't really spoken it freely around Ryan or I before, knowing that we couldn't understand it anyway.

Soon we were all sitting around the table, awkwardly waiting. We didn't want to seem greedy or something, so we were waiting for someone else to get their food first. That just so happened to be Ryder, who seemed oblivious to the awkwardness. He pulled a chunk of the fish away and pulled it onto his own plate. Shrugging Ryan and Naomi both reached forward and grabbed some fish. Rose and I followed their lead and soon we were all eating, well, all but Aurora.

The girl was studying her apple like an alien object. She sighed at it before taking a cautious bite, but she blinked and looked disappointed when she tasted it.

"I'm guessing you don't like the taste?" I asked as Aurora took another bite, this time bigger.

She quickly swallowed, "I mean it's not bad, but it's not like what I normally eat. An apple right?" I nodded.

"Is there a reason you are a vegetarian, but don't know what an apple is?" Ryder asked suddenly, with a perfectly straight face.

"I-uh….. Um….." I could practically see the gears in Aurora's head turning as she tried to find an excuse.

Thinking of an idea I mouthed bread to her. She glanced at me and quickly got the jist.

"Bread!" She bursted out before going as red as her apple, "I- I mean I normally eat bread…"

Ryder didn't look to pleased with the answer, but nodded and went back to his fish.

~*Time skip because dinner is boring*~

As we finished up the last of our dinner I smiled at Ryder, "That was very good."

"Thank you, it's a gift." he said with the slightest hint of modesty. "I, uh, actually went through some basic potions training, so I supposed that helped me get a hint for balancing ingredients." Ah, that was interesting.

"Rose, it's getting late, why don't you go to your room?" Ryan said with a parental tone. Even if he only recently met Aurora, Rose was like a daughter to him. He seemed interested in talking with Ryder and Naomi without them there, and Aurora could take the hint that she should leave.

Rose sighed before nodding and standing with Aurora following her lead, "Come on Aurora, I'll show you our room." And with that Rose lead her out of the room.

Trying not to fall into the void of awkward silence, Ryan started talking about something with Naomi, which I was half listening to. To be perfectly honest, I wasn't that interested in whatever the rest of them were going on about, but as general and basically second in command of our faction, I was well trained for sitting in long political meetings. So, I managed to keep a look of somewhat interest on my face for however long it was we were making "small talk." After a particularly long loll in the conversation, I glanced around waiting for someone else to start again.

Awkward looks passed between us before Ryan sighed and looked to Ryder, "So, uh… I guess you two are entitled to know… about Aurora. See, she's not exactly from around here and-"

Ryder interrupted him, rolling his eyes. "Look, we're not stupid. We're perfectly aware she's from the End.

I looked at him, confused. "But what about the whole apple thing, during dinner?"

He smiled. "I'm fully entitled to mess with anyone I please. To be perfectly honest, I'd like to hear more about what she has to say concerning her home."

Ryan blinked, confused. He had gone in expecting a full conversation and having to explain his entire story. But no, instead we're more or less told that they know the basics, don't care to know the rest, and feel that after about six sentences the topic has overstayed its welcome. Ryan seemed at something of a loss for words so I just shook my head mentally and started something else.

"So, uh, how is it that you are such a talented fisherman to be able to catch such fine fish?"

Ryder smiled broadly, closing his eyes in the process, "Naomi and I picked it up from our old home, actually." He said casually while I saw Naomi's eyes widen, although for what reason I couldn't tell. She glanced over at him, but didn't say anything aloud.

"Your old faction?" Ryan pried, while Naomi tensed. What was this now, an interrogation? If anything they were probably from some riverside village, nothing more to it.

"Yep," Ryder said opening his eyes in the process and seeing Naomi's eyes full of fear, immediately going slightly pale.

The gears in my head turned as Ryan and I put the pieces together. The river, the fact Cobble faction wasn't to far from here, and the fact the only fishing faction that was near here fell many years ago…. Oh god.

Ryan figured it out as soon as I did, leaping to his feet and knocking his chair back in the process. He stormed over to Ryder who lept to his feet in shock. Ryan shoved Ryder against the wall, his face bright red in rage.

"You were part of Ender faction, weren't you!?" He screamed in his face as Naomi and I lept to our feet. At first I was shocked, but reality came crashing down on me. These were the people that killed Ryan's mother, as well as my own! The knowledge of betrayal- as we had trusted Naomi and Ryder as well as we could an outsider- was heavy on me.

Naomi stomped over to them, pulling her bow off her shoulders as Ryder suddenly straightened up, drawing a knife. Somehow, I doubted that the what he was wielding now was the only- or the most dangerous- he had on him. I was scared Naomi that was going to shoot Ryan, but instead she just hit him on the side with the bow, knocking him to the ground, him clutching his side. He had been hit hard, and it was a strong, solid, wooden longbow- something that our faction didn't use, instead preferring smaller ones with less draw weight.

I ran over to Ryan and helped him to his feet before glaring at the two of them and drawing my sword in defence. In response, Naomi lifted her bow slightly, an arrow ready to be fired, but now drawing back quite yet. Ryder was in a defensive stance with a second knife in his opposite hand, and although our first impression was that of a bumbling idiot he was well balanced and light on his feet. All of it, deadly. For us, at least, should a wrong move be made.

"To think we trusted you!" I shouted at them, my face just as red as Ryan's as he drew his own sword. Those silly little knives weren't gonna do anything at this point, not if I had anything to do with it.

"Listen, we aren't your enemies." Naomi said as she motioned for Ryder to lower his knives, which he slipped away quickly and gracefully, as I was unable to catch where he had them stashed. Naomi herself had not lowered her bow completely, although if any guess was correct then she would have it up, drawn, aimed, and shot before either of us could cross the room and hack her with a sword. "Trust me when I say we've got a grudge against Horse faction as well, Dragon and her cohorts in particular."

"Our mothers are dead because of Ender faction. My sister's faction was temporarily crippled, my own left with heavy casualties." Ryan said in a half whisper, completely ignoring the last bit.

"We didn't intend for the raid to go bad. We just wanted to make a point. Your mother blocked our trading routes, the ones that kept our small faction going." Ryder blurted out, "Your mother's death was an accident. As for any other deaths, that was your own fault. You attacked us, killing everyone from the old to the children who couldn't even lift a bow."

Naomi stared at the ground, "I lost one of my best friends in the attack, as well as her daughter."

"What do you have against Dragon?" I questioned.

Naomi sighed, "She was once the general of Horse faction, respected and feared. When Ender faction was destroyed we turned to one of our only allies, that being Horse faction. The only survivors that turned to them were Ryder, Gregor, our leader, and I. When we arrived Korbin made Gregor his new general, demoting Dragon to captain in order to show that their alliance with us was still strong. However, Dragon did not approve and one night I woke up to hearing someone outside my tent. I got up to investigate before seeing Dragon enter Gregor's tent. T- the last thing I saw was her drawing a knife…. I woke Ryder and we ran in after she left, but Gregor was dead. We went to Korbin and told him. The next day Dragon was banished from her birth faction, but not before she sweared that she would end Ryder and I and any other surviving members of Ender faction. Korbin then sent a young scout by the name of Rachel to follow her and make sure she didn't get into any trouble, but promising her she was always welcome in their faction. I'm honestly surprised Dragon didn't kill me or Rachel sooner."

By the end of her story my eyes were wider than a full moon, full of shock and fear. I looked to Ryan, who still looked angry, but now confused and betrayed.

"Do you really expect us to believe that you've on our side?"

Naomi seemed to draw herself up to her full height. "Perhaps I should ask you something instead. Do you know who we are?"

"I know what disgusting faction you're from." Ryan responded bitterly.

She glared at him in response. "I'm Naomi, assassin of Ender faction. I specialize in intelligence gathering, general stealth, and elimination of my targets. I'm a deadly shot and can disguise myself to fit into any situation."

Ryder spoke up next. "I'm Ryder, assassin of Ender faction specializing in stealth, tracking, and trapping. You'll never know that I was there, following you for days. Then one day you'll find that I've slipped a poison in your meal or rigged an explosion that is triggered the moment you step outside your door."

I paled for a moment, wondering if he had poisoned us with his meal- he was a fine chef, he'd be able to disguise the distinct flavour of most common poisons- before rationalizing that he had made the meal for all of us, and it was unlikely he'd slip something in it.

Naomi continued after him. "The fact is, we can help you."

Hearing the sound of shuffling Naomi and I spun around to see a figure trying to hide from our view. Glaring at where it was, I stormed over to the doorway.

"What in the name of Notch are you doing out of bed, Rose!?" I shouted at the young teen who looked rather scared to be caught, "Eavesdropping nonetheless!"

"I- I'm sorry Luna, I just wanted to know what you were talking about." Rose defended herself as Ryan came stomping over, once again mad.

"I sent you to bed so we may discuss things in private, not to have nosy little ears listening from the shadows! And...ugh, where's Aurora? I can't expect you to not have dragged her up here as well."

Rose looked behind herself, rather confused. "Aurora?" She asked, questioningly.

Then I heard a small sigh from behind some rocks, but I couldn't see anyone. Almost as if she could teleport like the ender Aurora appeared from the shadows, looking slightly guilty. Lets just say I wasn't expecting to see her do that. She must have been standing perfectly still, letting the shadows consume and conceal her the best they could.

"For the love of diamonds, Aurora! What possessed you to think you should sneak out of bed, with Rose nonetheless!?" I scolded, practically like a mother telling off her small child. I knew very little about the ender, but from everything I had gathered now and then from Ryan they were pretty big on manners and whatnot. Could she not just utilize whatever those things taught her? Then again, it seemed all that ender did was sneak around, so maybe she was just in desperate need of a "being human" reality check.

She winced slightly as I glared at her, expecting a response. At the very least, Rose had tried to play it off with an excuse. She finally just mumbled, "Oe si fe'ran, oe tsap'alute," looking down at the stone beneath her feet. I supposed it was her saying something in her own language, but for all I knew she was telling me to go jump off a cliff.

I glared at her annoyedly. She wasn't a member of my faction or on our faction land. No matter what was I thought about it, she wasn't really my child to control outside of the simple fact that she was young and I was older and more mature. "Would you care to repeat that, but in a language we all speak?" I asked her sweetly. That should be a warning enough.

"Kehe set." She said, finally glancing back up at me with a completely unreadable expression. I was going to guess that was a "no." Maybe I could speak to her at some point tomorrow. Simply put, there were other things needing discussion and disciplining someone who is for all intents and purposes and orphan, or at very least a long way from home, wasn't at the very top of the list.

I sighed, "I'm not your parent in any sense, but I'm going to ask that you just please, go to bed. Rose, you too." The girls knew better than to argue and just start pointless fights so they hurriedly went to vacate the room. Well, Rose did, Aurora just shifted weight on her feet for a few moments before Rose moved to pull her out of the room.

As they were stepping out, Aurora glanced over her shoulder, softly saying "Txo rutxe tsleng sa'nok oe tam kem si nivi hahaw. Slakop kehe tsleng tifnunga' fayluta!" With what seemed to be an almost devious grin (which she covered up quickly), they left.

Ryder burst out laughing. I glanced over at him, a questioning look gracing my features. I was fairly sure he could speak at least a little of her language, how, I had no idea.

"Care to share with us what she said?" I asked, although at the very least the mood seemed a little more lighthearted now, despite the evening's previous feelings.

"I don't think it's up to me to translate, Aurora wouldn't appreciate it!" He said, snickering slightly. I sighed.

"Rose seems to be a bad influence on her. No wonder the ender chose her to deal with us humans."

* * *

Chapter written by Author 1


	21. Practice

**Aurora's POV**

Rose had been quiet for the past few minutes, likely reflecting on what she had overheard. I felt embarrassed, not only by how I had acted but by how I had been told off and sent to my room like a child. It seemed like people just assumed that I was that poor kid with no family structure in her life, but that really wasn't true.

I glanced up from what I had been working on; I was patching up the rip in my elytra. I had chosen to use leather, although there really wasn't any Overworld fabric that would match the quality of the special kind used for elytra.

She sat up from her bed. I personally enjoyed them; they were very soft. "So. The End, huh?"

I looked back at her. "I mean, yeah." What more was there to tell? Well, a lot, actually. But it was long and I was tired. I had already poked my finger with the needle a few times and it tingled slightly from it.

"I guess I should have known something was up. Seems like everyone else did." She mumbled, half to herself and half to me.

"Don't worry about it, okay? As far as I know not many people know much about the End."

I flinched back as the needle poked my thumb again. I considered myself an excellent sewer, but right now I was tired, hungry, and sewing with a strange material using a strange needle. Rose was once again silent, and I paused to rub my eyes. My patchwork job was sloppy considering the leather wasn't exactly the material of choice for elytra.

Every now and then, some ender scientist would find a better way for creating elytra. Within five years they might go from what we had currently- the stiff frame with fabric stretched over it- to a much more advanced glider. It could be possible that there would be made of flexible supports, much like a dragon's wing, and have stretchy fabric that would allow the wearer to have much more control, go farther and faster… who knew what could be accomplished in my lifetime. But, back to the main point, simple Overworld materials weren't going to cut it.

I sighed, thinking about the End. There, I had felt so different. I enjoyed the blessed silence in my head when I was up in my room. I felt that I was really making a difference being a medic and saving lives. Yet, here I was, being the cause of a death. What would happen? I didn't know.

"Hey, Aurora? Um, why don't we go ahead and go to sleep, Luna and Ryan are coming back."

I looked out the entrance of the room which had been cut into the stone. We had left the door propped open to let in some of the cool sea air, and I could see them heading down the wooden walkway.

The light source of the room was a simple redstone lamp. I nodded to her question, setting down the needle and thread I had borrowed back into the little case. I dropped the elytra on the floor next to the bed, and it landed in a heap.

She clicked off the light, the only illumination of the room coming from the soft glow outside the door. Night in the Overworld seemed strange to me. It was a bit like the End, except the sky was dominated by the moon, giving everything an odd white glow. Outside, the only sounds came from the waves lapping at the stone base of the cliff. Ryder had explained how any mobs in the area were effectively locked out of the cliffside base as there was no way for them to get to it. The top of the cliff was too steep for anything to safely get up and over it.

Rose turned over, facing away from the moonlight streaming in through the door, but her breathing was still lighter and I could tell she was still awake. I stared at the back of her head for a few minutes, before taking several deep breaths. Concentrating hard, I mentally said, Rose?

No answer. After another minute or two, I heard her breathing even out. She was asleep. If I couldn't talk to her while she was awake, I wouldn't get her attention when she was asleep.

Maybe I was just too much of an ender to ever really act like a human. I spoke like an ender, and I thought like one too. I thought in pictures and emotions, conveying messages without words. Humans just weren't like that.

Shutting my eyes, I too slipped into sleep.

~*~*~*~ Oh Look Morning ~*~*~*~

"You're gonna need to be quicker on your feet if you want to avoid the sharp end of the sword Aurora!" Ryder told me as he made a lunge with a wooden mock blade. Luna and Ryan insisted I get some practice with a sword before we left, though to where I had no idea. I was just wondering when I'd get to go home.

Ryder was swiping at me with a little knife blade, acting quick and honestly pretty scary. He had traded his normal brightly coloured waistcoat for more practical clothing, as well as a cape matching to what Naomi wore.

I had eaten very little during breakfast, instead choosing to finish repairing my elytra. I was quite happy for this decision, considering the circumstances. I still wasn't wearing any armor, so it hurt when Ryder did manage to land a hit on me, but I felt a bit better with fully functional elytra on my back.

Ender weren't exactly fighters. Yes, they had twice the health of the normal human. Yes, they were taller. But they weren't carefully trained and the society didn't revolve around war.

However, ender did have incredible reflexes, not to mention being light on their feet. So long of flying at incredible speeds, balancing and running along branches, and the extra help of being rather fit did make it so that I wasn't "dying" every five seconds in these mock battles.

I had been given a stick to work with. It was longer than Ryder's short wooden blade, but he was able to dart around any of my clumsy blows. He gave me a stiff poke in the ribs and I winced. I probably already had a nice collection of bruises.

"Nice to know that lesson I gave you sunk in." Luna called out, rolling her eyes.

Gritting my teeth, I tried again to whack him with my stick, and he ducked under it before sweeping my legs out from under me. He did grab my arm before I fell, but that didn't make it much better.

Finally, out of frustration, I tossed the stick to the side. I obviously wasn't going to land a single hit trying to do this Luna's way.

I jumped back from his swing, whirling around to try and ram my shoulder into him. Completely on accident, my elytra opened with the force of the sudden movement- smacking into him, hard. He lost his balance, taking a few wobbly steps backwards before regaining his footing.

He smirked slightly, and I knew I was as good as dead. He faked moving left, lunging at my unprotected side. I gave a half-stifled shriek, trying to jump out of the way but horribly failing.

Probably as revenge he hit a little harder than normal, causing me to almost fall to the ground. I groaned in pain, clutching my side and letting myself fall to my knees. I don't know about him, but I'm done sparing, that you very much. With all these bruises flying is going to be one heck of a challenge, considering the way that the straps tug and wind around me.

"C- can we be done for now?" I asked defeatedly through clenched teeth as Ryder, Luna, and Ryan walked over to me. We all knew I was dead if someone actually tried to kill me, why were they trying so hard to prevent it? I saw Rose come hurrying over as well, kneeling next to me and looking like she was making sure Ryder didn't break anything. I stood up, pushing her away. I was a healer too, ya know.

"You need to be able to protect yourself Aurora, Luna and I won't always be there to save your butt." Ryan said sternly while I threw my arms in the air in frustration. I considered showing him my incredible defense skills by trying to shove him off the cliff, but decided that the others wouldn't take kindly to him dying.

"Besides Dragon, no one is going to try to kill me when you guys aren't around! It's not like I travel to the Overworld in my spare time!" I shot back, glaring at him and Luna.

Luna sighed loudly before whispering something to Ryan that I couldn't make out. I knew they could just talk telepathically so it was obvious she wanted to know she was saying something. Ryan's expression changed slightly before he nodded and the two of them walked off, speaking in hushed tones.

"Well then. Now that your whining has stopped…"

I shrieked and ducked, only for a wooden blade to go whistling over my head. I attempted to elbow Ryder, who was standing behind me, and I heard him jump out of the way. Rose, seeing how our fight was obviously about to pick up again and I was an unwilling candidate, chose to vacate the area. I watched her begin to walk away, and called out annoyedly, "Come join in the fun!"

She stopped in her tracks, turning her head to face me, "I'm not very good."

"You've got to be better than Aurora," Ryder told her, slightly smirking, "She wouldn't last a minute on the battlefield."

It was true, yes, but I still chose to kick him. I heard him wince, so I assumed it at least hurt a little. It was also the second blow I had landed on him today, something I could be proud of.

Rose sighed, "If I must," before picking up a wooden sword from where a few were scattered across the ground. She walked over to us before letting the sword hang loosely in her hand. The way she held herself reminded me of Luna during our practise session, and I assumed this wasn't her first time holding a sword. I guess even medics in this world had to be trained with a blade.

I stepped back slightly, letting her have some space. It was obvious Ryder wasn't too worried about facing her, but then again he wasn't fighting her. I was, while he stood off to the side. I debated just going ahead and jumping off the mountainside, but these thought were quickly dispelled as she practically leaped forward.

I jumped back, landing lightly on my feet. Her posture was heavier and her blows clumsier than Ryder and Luna's, but that was still better than I had.

I glared at her. I didn't like this. I didn't want to be sucked into all this "battle training."

She went to lunge at me again and I saw Ryder watching her tactic. If what we'd overheard last night was true, then he was a full-blown assassin and it was right I couldn't beat him. In fact, everyone- even Rose, a medic with a questionable amount of expertise with the sword, was better at this whole "fighting" deal than me.

Yelling, I body slammed her, something that'd probably get me killed if this were a real battle. It knocked the practice weapon out of her hand, and I jumped back when she stumbled, finally regaining her footing. I noticed Ryder step in to interfere, trying to grab one of the straps on my elytra. I slipped out of his grasp, launching myself off the cliff.

Forget them. I didn't sign up for this, and the fact that they were all treating me like a poor little girl was infuriating. Worse yet, their version of making me better and stronger involved beating me to death with wood.

My elytra snapped open and caught the wind, saving me from a bad fall. The cliff was high, and I could travel a good distance before I'd either fall into the ocean or have to land. Come to think about it, the former was likely the better option considering I didn't know how to swim.

I didn't feel any tears welling up in my eyes or anything. I just felt… alone, I suppose. In the End there were always so many minds so close together. Here I was left with nothing but my thoughts and a bunch of people who did their best to embarrass me.

Glancing back over my shoulder, I could see that Rose was nowhere in sight along the cliff top, while Ryder had chosen to watch me fly. They were all talking about preparing me for a battle, but the simple point was that I wouldn't be in any battles. I was going to go home soon.

I spied a rocky shelf slightly farther down on the cliff. It was a little bit above tree level, and I angled downward towards it. At the last moment before impact, I curved upwards slightly, causing the elytra to catch the air and slow me down, allowing me to safely drop to the stone. It was a move I had done hundreds of times before, swooping down on the walkways of the ender buildings.

My elytra went limp, folded nicely against my back.

Because it wasn't quite yet noon, steep shadows lined the rocky cliff. I stood partially concealed in one such shadow. The stone was cool, having not yet been warmed by the sunshine, but I had no bias and sat down, leaning against the wall with my elytra spread slightly to accommodate. I had a fairly good view of the valley, and could see that the trees were mainly white-trunked birch.

There was the sound of footsteps on stone as someone ran down the steep slope, siding on loose rock every now and then. Suddenly, Ryder appeared in my view, looking around for a few moments before his eyes finally landed on me. He jumped down to where I was sitting, and I looked up expectantly.

"Have you come to talk about me disapprovingly?" I didn't say it in a particularly glum tone or anything of the sort, just sorta neutral. He shrugged.

"I suppose your defense and evasive techniques weren't that bad. If you were really trying to use your speed and agility you would be pretty good for someone with no training."

"Well, literally everyone here is trained in combat. Even Rose, and she's only a medic!"

He was looking over at the forest. "Here, even medics will have to face the battlefield. Most are considered neutral, but there's always a chance they can be attacked. This world is a dangerous place."

That sounded horrible, where even healers must face death just for helping.

"I'm, well, I'm not exactly a medic in the End. I haven't gone through any formal training. But I live in a medical homestead, and no one has ever tried to attack me."

"What's it like, in the End?"

"It's amazing. Nothing but total emptiness, an open sky. Islands that float in space, covered with flowering trees." There was so much more to say, but I was still annoyed at Ryder.

"Your home sounds lovely," he said, before pointing out somewhere in the trees. I followed his point the best I could, staring off towards a place near the base of the mountain. A small river flowed between the mountain and the forest, but at one place I could see the trees were smaller and not as thick. There was also what looked to be buildings as well, but whether or not they were intact I couldn't decipher.

"That was my home."

His home burned down, didn't it? They had been attacked.

"I- I'm sorry." Yes, that was the best I could offer. The delicacies of human comfort and emotions still managed to elude me.

He shrugged. "It's all in the past, now." He looked away from the forest for a moment, gaze turning towards the sea. "Aurora, do you… y'know, do you remember your parents? Or have you been in the End-"

"I was rescued from my home and brought to the End when I was three. I… I don't really remember anything. Dreams, more like it. I think in a village or something, and it was raided and destroyed. I'm not really sure, but my mother's name was… Caroline, maybe? Just a guess, really."

He blinked, but turned his face away from me so I couldn't tell what he was thinking. At that point, he changed the subject back to the original point.

"You're light on your feet and can practically blend into shadows. You have a lot of potential, Aurora. But whatever it is you choose to do, I hope you do well. Come on then, we'd best be getting back."

I nodded, and we began our ascent up the slope. It was difficult going, with the gravel sliding under my shoes and the rocks occasionally shifting. I much prefered the islands of the End. Even if they were floating, they were still solid masses and not so… shifty.

Scrambling up and over the top I paused for a moment to catch my breath. I had great stamina but I didn't like jogging straight up a steep mountain side.

I froze just as I was about to take another step as Naomi ran over to where we stood. She pushed back a few loose strands of hair that had gotten in her face, looking at me dryly. Her expression clearly said "I can't believe you just flew off" and her next words mimicked this thought well.

"I can't believe this, Aurora. You can't just run off whenever something happens that you don't like."

Ryder probably said something because she glanced at him with a look I couldn't read. I rubbed my arm, watching them have a private conversation. It seemed they finally came to some sort of agreement when Naomi shrugged and Ryder turned to face me.

"Aurora? Um, how about you go find Ryan or Luna and go hang out with them for a while?"

I wasn't very interested in going to see Luna considering how she had been laughing at me during our mock battles. I knew I had no chance in winning those things, so why should I bother trying?

"Um, I'll go find Ryan. Bye guys."

Standing up, I starting running along the ridge before jumping down and landing on the flats of my feet. Looking around, I searched for Ryan before starting off down the wooden pathway.

As it turns out, I found Ryan sitting on a piece of rock that jutted out from the surrounding stone. He was poring over a small stack of books and papers.

I jumped down, landing beside him and making a few of the papers flutter. They had little stones on them to keep the papers from blowing away and falling into the sea below whenever the wind blew.

"Hey Ryan!" I chose not to explain the events leading up to me coming over here.

He glanced up at me, closing the book he had been looking at and setting it down beside him. "Are you done training already?"

I just nodded quickly. "Yep, I am. What're you doing here?"

He motioned to the papers around him. "I asked Ryder what he knew about the End. As it turns out, many years ago when he was collecting information about a special kind of explosive he came across a book written in the old language. He knew enough of it that he was able to read most of it, and that's when he heard the legends. I can't read the old language very well, so I'm using what he has translated."

Stooping down, I picked up the book he had set down. I opened it to a random spot, seeing what looked like a bunch of short stories.

"Huh. This is the language my book is written in," I pointed to a few words on the page. "It's a lot like the language we speak in the End, but it's missing a few letters and some of the words are spelled wrong."

He shrugged, and I skimmed a few of the paragraphs on one of the pages. It was talking about something having to do with a "monster born of lightning and destruction itself." It sounded like whoever came up with these had no clue what they were writing about

Ryan stood up and moved to look over my shoulder. "This is one of the ones he had translated. As it turns out, the story is referring to a creature known as a 'charged creeper.' When a bolt of lightning strikes a creeper, they'll gain a blowing aura and are far more dangerous."

I vaguely remembered something in my book about those, but nothing specific. I mean, it wasn't like I studied everything I could find. I was the most interested in human culture and such, and especially hadn't had time for reading old stories. They didn't seem very interesting at all.

Flipping the pages, I stopped at another random point. It was another story, this one about "great dragons formed of shadows who breathed acid and scooped up adventurers, banishing them to eternal darkness of which they originated."

"Whoever wrote this seems loony." I said.

"Much of fiction had its origination in fact, Aurora. What if there are more dimensions than just the End, Nether, and Overworld? What if there are beings that we've never seen, because they're out there, living just out of our view?"

"You're sounding loony as well. We have a word for that, too. 'Skxawng,' or maybe 'keye'ung' is a better word."

He gave me an odd look. "I don't know what those mean, anyway."

It was probably a good thing, too. He might take offense to be called an insane moron.

"I never know what you guys are saying when you use your telepathy," I retorted. He just shrugged, clearly not knowing what to say.

"Oh well."

I handed him his book back and he sat down once more. "So why are you reading all of these now?" Did he really not have anything else to do?

"I have my reasons."

Hm. His suspicious answer either led to the conclusion that he was hiding something or purposely messing with me.

* * *

Chapter written by Author 2


	22. The Plan

**Luna's POV**

I sighed slightly as I carefully made my way to the room Ryan and I ended up sharing. I couldn't help but wonder how the heck Ryder and Naomi avoided falling. Yeah, I know I walked over lava and hard stone on a daily basis back in Gold faction, but I was use to that. Out in the open I felt as if a gust of wind could send me flying, though I doubted it. Still, I hated these walkways with a passion.

When I finally made it to the room I was relieved to feel sturdy wood under my feet. I immediately made my way to my bed, sitting on the edge and grabbing my backpack that was leaning against one of the legs. I set my bag in my lap before beginning to dig through the mess of things that had been created during the chaos of the last few days. After having to dig to the bottom of the bag and getting scratched by my own pickaxe I felt smooth, cool leather. I pulled out the two books I had taken from the Stronghold.

I don't know why I didn't ditch them at the faction, they made my bag weigh a ton! But I was glad I hadn't, maybe Ryder could translate them. I set my bag down, leaning against my pillow before standing and making my way out of the room with the books in my hand.

 _Ryder, can I talk to you?_ I asked in the chat, not sure where the lunatic was.

 _Of course, I'm in my lab if you need to talk in person,_ he replied. I quickly told him I'd be right up before making my way to the walkway that lead up to the lab. I. Hate. These. Walkways!

When I finally got up to the lab a few minutes later Ryder seemed to have completely forgotten I was even coming up, judging by his reaction to when my head peered into the 'lair'.

"Oh, I figured you must have decided you didn't need to talk to me after all. You were taking forever." He said with a small smile as he looked over a blueprint that resembled Aurora's elytra.

"No, I just hate those walkways." I stated with a glare while he laughed softly, "Anyway, I need your help."

"How may I be of assistance?" He asked before his cat leaped onto the table, walking all over the blueprints.

I held out the books, "I got these from a Stronghold, but I can't read them. You seem to know a lot about the End and can read some of it. So can you read it?" I asked.

He spun around to stare at the books, a small smile present. His eyes were slightly larger and he looked like he was on the verge of drooling over the books.

"I can try, but why in the name of the Nether were you in a Stronghold?" He asked as he took the books from me, laying them out on the table, shoving his cat off in the process. When it landed the cat let out a hiss before scampering off to somewhere else.

"Uh- It was just after Ryan had gone missing, we had set out to find the idiot. Our search party ended up finding our way to the Stronghold he used to get to the End, but it was broken so we were out of luck." I explained, having a sinking he would ask more questions.

"I knew about Ryan, you guys explained that much, but I never knew you found a Stronghold!" He exclaimed as he flipped open the first book.

"Yeah, it's a good ways away though, and deep underground. Not to mention the amount of Silverfish and other mobs. I have no intentions of ever going back, besides, the portal is broken, if Aurora wants to get home she'll need to either find another portal, or find an Enderman to take her there. And I don't know if either is possible." I replied. Ryder grabbed a few pieces of paper, a quill, and an ink jar as he began scribbling the translation down, pausing here and there.

"Why are you and Ryan so interested in the End? He asked me if he could look at some of the ender books I had that had been translated earlier. Is there something Aurora needs to know?" He asked and I flinched. Ryan and I had been avoiding this question since we got out of the tunnels. I had explained to him what Rachel had told me during our trek out of faction, but in a private chat so Rose didn't hear us. We didn't want to make her carry the burden of this knowledge, not to mention I guessed she would tell Aurora once we found her. We would tell her, just not right then.

Before I could reply he spun around to look me in the eye. I guessed he would be able to tell if I was lying or not telling the whole story, I was a very bad liar and he was a trained assassin.

"It's… Complicated. I'm only going to explain once and that will be with Ryan beside me." I replied, staring at the floor. He took a deep breath.

"Alright, you can explain after dinner, if you don't then Aurora and Rose will do more snooping and they will find out the hard way." He replied before going back to the books, "It'll take me a day or two, and there might be some words I don't know. If you're gone before then we can arrange a pick up or something."

I nodded my thanks before making my way out of the cave and into the sunlight. I peered over the, terrifying, wooden walkway to see Aurora and Ryan talking on large rock sticking out of the sea. I looked over where the kitchen and table was to see Naomi and Rose talking as they nibbled at two red apples in their hands. I heard Ryder talking to his cat from the lab which I had just exited, soon followed by soft purring. Everyone was happy.

Too bad that had to end.

~*Time Skip to Dinner because of the power of chocolate waffles!*~

Tonight we had fish once again, then again there wasn't much else to eat. I suppose someone could have tracked down a cow or sheep, but we had fish right in front of us. Why waste the energy?

Every so often Ryder would look up from his plate and glance at me, sending oh-so-subtle hints my way. I knew I had to spill at one point or another. I had talked to Ryan about it, and he agreed we needed to tell them. I just didn't know where to start. I suppose the best way would be when we met Naomi. When Dragon started acting different.

"Um… so. Ryan and I kinda have something important to tell you all," I began. Wow, wasn't that just the best possible way I could start?

"Oh, finally you're talking. I was wondering how long you'd take."

Ryder, of course. I frowned before taking a deep breath and beginning, and while I noticed that Aurora was staring blankly I was pretty sure she'd be paying attention soon.

"To put it in the bluntest way possible, Horse faction is planning on invading the End."

Ah, there it was. Aurora's head immediately snapped up to look at me confusedly, and I began to elaborate.

"Horse faction is looking to control the End for the rare resources it contains. Obviously the ender are able to harness technologies we cannot, like flying. And from what Ryan told me, they can create teleporters as well. Nether hubs would become obsolete."

Naomi caught onto what I was about to say. "They're gonna kill the Ender Dragon, aren't they? They want to control an entire dimension. It's all about power."

I nodded, "We can rally Cobble faction too. Horse can fight fiercely when they want to. I'm guessing Horse knows some other way into the End because the portal was destroyed. We'll have to get to the End before them so that the ender have time to rally troops."

Did the ender even have an army? Considering how dangerous endermen were, I doubted they needed one. "Aurora, we're going to need to move fast. We can gather some people from Gold and Cobble, maybe Quartz, but not many if we want to travel there in time to head them off. Do we need an enderman to get there?"

She shook her head, focused on what we were saying. "There's over a hundred portals hidden in the Overworld, formed in a spiral. We just need to get to one, and Ryan knows how."

"Uh, right."

Quite right, oh fearless leader. Sometimes I swear Ryan barely knew what being a leader was about. I had a feeling he winged it half the time. Then again, we normally don't have to deal with big problems, most factions steer clear of us. Ryan carrying his father's legacy and all.

"How did you find the Stronghold in the first place?" Ryder asked the question I had wondered when he first disappeared, but it soon got tossed aside with everything that followed.

"I found the coordinates in an old book I found in a village near Gold faction. I could only translate one because someone had translated it before me, but that's it. I've still got the book, it's a bit beat up and there are a few holes, but it should work alright." He said before glancing out the entrance to the cave dining room, "The book's in my bag, I can go get it real quick if you guys think you can make some sense of it."

"I can try to translate it if you want," Aurora piped up, looking fairly worried. I didn't blame her, if someone told me that the entire Overworld was about to be taken over while I was off somewhere else I would be freaking out and trying to get home.

Ryan nodded before excusing himself and jogging off to our room. Of course, now eyes were on me. Rose looked really miserable, Ryder looked almost excited, Naomi wore a stoic expression that hid whatever she was thinking, while Aurora looked almost mad at me.

"Why am I only just now hearing about this? If you had told me earlier I would have left for home sooner." She said bluntly, narrowing her eyes.

"I'm sorry Aurora, but Ryan didn't want you going into a soon-to-be war zone unprotected. There's a reason we were trying to train you for combat, because that's what this is going to come to. A fight for the End." I replied just as blunt.

She flinched before staring at her lap, just as stoic as Naomi. I felt a little bad about being so harsh, but I wasn't in the mood for sugarcoating anything.

Rose looked up at me, her eyes glistening, "Was this Dragon's plan all along? Was she using us the whole time? Did we ever mean anything to her?"

"I- I don't know. All I know is that she started acting weird as soon as Naomi entered our lives, and that would make perfect sense. I'm honestly surprised she didn't try to poison her." I replied, looking at the assassin.

"I was just one of the rocks that tipped the scale, Ryan going to the End was the first. A world that was made between worlds was not meant to be explored, no human should ever have gone there." She said sternly, slightly directing it at her End crazy friend.

"Nothing bad happened when I was brought to the End," Aurora piped up, looking up from her lap, "I prefer living there, not this dreadful place. A world where even those who try to help are killed."

It was clear to me she meant medics. Rose had told me about being forced to spar with Aurora, obviously she didn't know that medics had combat training. Rose had more than most due to her family. Her parents were probably two of the strongest fighters in Gold faction, and it was shocking to see them fall so quickly.

Ryder looked up at Naomi, clearly saying something in a private chat, and I could see it was bothering Aurora.

"If you're going to talk, talk aloud will you!?" She hissed quietly. I was slightly shocked at her tone, normally she was so calm. Then again, a lot has happened in the span of five minutes.

I had never been so relieved to see Ryan come jogging into the room, completely unaware of what had happened while he was gone. He sat down in his chair, setting a book on the table that was so old that there was no readable title, just faded, worn leather.

"Here we go, one book to all Strongholds." Ryan said triumphantly as he opened the book carefully, as if he feared it would turn to dust at his touch.

Aurora glared at the book slightly from the other side of the table as Ryder and Naomi jumped out of their seats to stand behind Ryan, watching over his shoulders. I simply leaned over slightly, but it didn't really matter, I couldn't read a letter in that book.

Ryan slowly and carefully flipped the pages until he reached pages of the book that were so big they were folded in half. Ryan and I carefully opened what turned out to be a map of the northern factions. I scanned over the map until my eyes rested on jagged lines that symbolized mountains.

"Hey, Ryder, what does this say?" I said, my index finger slightly pressing on the paper where the mountains were and faded letters were barely visible.

"Hm, I think it says… Faction of the Dark? No, that doesn't seem right." He replied quizzically.

"Faction of the Night?" Ryan offered before I could, "That's where Gold faction is, approximately. When Aurora and I got back from the End she thought we were in 'The faction of the Night.' It makes sense." Ryan explained while I was wondering if he even remembered that Gold faction wasn't always there.

"Didn't your father buy out Night faction under heavy threat?" Naomi piped up.

"Yes, he did," I replied before Ryan could say anything, "Ryan's father bought out my parents faction that had been handed down from generation to generation." I didn't mean to sound so bitter, but it was a semi-sore subject for me.

Yay, more awkwardness in the room. Just what we needed. Ryder seemed to have tuned us out as he muttered translations out loud.

 _I got it!_ he suddenly screamed into the chat causing everyone but Aurora to jump, Rose nearly falling out of her seat.

"Is there a portal near us?" I asked aloud, not wanting to anger Aurora further.

"There's one right here," he said, his finger hovering above some faded markings, "this one isn't too deep and it's in-between Gold faction and Cobble!" OK, I was starting to like this lunatic.

"Perfect!" Ryan said, a smile appearing on his face. He suddenly shot out of his seat, causing Naomi and Ryder to jump out of the way. He began pacing in the doorway, something he does when he's thinking of a plan, not one of his 'wing it' situations. No, something this huge needed to be thought out.

Then again, even some of Ryan's best plans ended in utter failure, sometimes he over thought things. That's where he and his sister were different, Jayde is famous for her planning skills. And often times if Cobble faction was staying at Gold faction it was to discuss planning because if Ryan came up with all our strategies we'd be doomed.

I was okay with planning, Jayde and I use to have long conversations over strategy when I first became Gold's General. If it wasn't Jayde who helped Ryan it was often myself. Why was I worried about being leader?

"Ryan, before you hurt yourself how 'bout we contact Gold and Cobble faction first? For this we need a plan, and a good one at that." I said, a hint of humor in my tone. He looked up at me, at first annoyed but then I caught a glimpse of a small smile. Or maybe I imagined it. Who knows.

"Yeah, good idea Luna… Ryder, how far are we from Gold faction? I might be able to contact them through the chat if I try, but if they're to far away I'd rather not waste energy." Ryan said as he stopped pacing.

"It's actually not far from here, and Cobble faction is practically next door." Ryder replied. I couldn't have known, considering we had followed Naomi on a curving path to get here. But looking at the map, everything seemed to fall into place.

Now we're in business!

"Naomi, Ryder, this is going to come down to a battle, we know that much… We need every fighter we can get. If you help us defeat Korbin and Dragon we will help you rebuild Ender faction, and you may join our alliance if you wish." Ryan said calmly while I was slightly nervous. Though he might be alright with the proposal, what about Jayde? Not to mention we were at each other's throats not a night ago!

Ryder and Naomi seemed about as shocked from his offer as I was. They exchanged glances, obviously talking within the chat.

"Under any other circumstances we'd decline," Naomi began, "but, Drakia must pay for what she did. I will never forgive Gold faction for what they did, but I will fight next to you if it means her downfall." I let out a silent sigh of relief, the way she began I was worried she was going to kick us out and practice her aim.

"Thank you Naomi, I will make sure Jayde knows not to attack the new Ender faction once this is over." I replied with a small smile.

As Ryan began to walk back to his seat I noticed a small flicker of discomfort flash across his slight smile.

"Ryan," Rose began in a worried tone, "when was the last time you applied the healing potion to your leg?" Everyone's attention was now on my leader, including my own. I had assumed he had been applying it, but then again, we have been pretty busy…

"Ryan?" I pried after he didn't reply.

"... Not since we fled Gold faction." He replied sheepishly like a child getting caught after doing something they were not supposed to do.

"Ryan!" Rose and I exclaimed at the same time, causing him to flinch. I saw Aurora shake her head slightly in annoyance along with Naomi, but Ryder just looked confused.

"You were given orders to apply the potion every day! Your leg can't have healed, not yet. How long have you been hiding the pain!?" Rose practically screamed at him. Now that Rose was our head medic I suppose she had about the same authority as Ryan and I. So Ryan couldn't scold her for shouting at him like that. Great…

"It doesn't hurt most of the time, it only really aches at the end of the day. Or if I've been walking up and down those stupid pathways too much." He replied.

 _I told you they were evil!_ I shouted at Ryder through the chat while he just rolled his eyes in reply.

"They're not evil, Luna." I wasn't sure whether or not I was more offended by the fact he showed complete disregard for my statement or that he wasn't even gracing me with a genuine response.

Oh well. We didn't have time for this. It was time to prepare for war, and you didn't win by talking.

If only we could, Ryder could blab enough to stop the whole Overworld.

* * *

Chapter written by Author 1


	23. A Journey

**-Aurora's POV-**

I'd say everything's falling apart, but that would be a complete understatement. I'll admit everything is falling apart, but it's worse than that. All the little pieces got picked up, but when someone tried to tape them together the tape magically dissolved the bits into powder that got blown away and eaten by a fish.

And yes, I am acting overdramatic, but with good reason. I mean, if suddenly I'm being told that things are a lot worse than I originally thought, then I'd be a bit worried.

By "bit" I mean a lot. I hate to admit it but… well… I'm scared for my home. For the End, and the ender which inhabit it.

The End is a fragile place, and the ender have had a long time to know how to live there. They're made for a floating home, being able to teleport from place to place.

Ender scientists have carefully studied the environment for many years. They've made contraptions to let us fly. They've made ships that harness the way islands float to move through the sky. They've created ways to teleport things long distances.

And humans don't understand this. I don't want to imagine my home overrun by humans, the ender killed or scattered. Maybe they'd mine the islands for the stone, or work in the chorus tree forests. Perhaps they'd build bridges between islands, or something. But the simple fact is that the human race as a whole isn't meant to be there.

I know it sounds a bit hypocritical of me, when I myself am a human. But the difference is that I understand the world.

They don't.

Rubbing my tired eyes I finally forced myself up and out of bed. After the events of dinner last night, quite a while of poring over maps and talking insured. I was sleepy, although Rose was up and ready to face the day. Of course, I had been needed to translate everything, since I was significantly more fluent than Ryder was. I mean, it's great to know that I've helped, but a good portion of the words don't exactly match up and the grammar is significantly different.

It's headache inducing, if anything.

They had chosen a definitive course of action that involved rallying other factions. Unfortunately, that meant either hours of walking or hours of riding horses. Even if I jumped from the highest point I could find on this beach I doubted I'd get that far, and then I'd be stuck in the same position I was in now.

Tossing the blankets back into some semblance of normality I snagged the backpack I had been loaned, slinging it over my shoulder where it bumped against the elytra. I wasn't sure how it'd work out when I was flying, but if it got to that point I could always carry it.

Rose stuck her head inside of the room, having already been awake since before sunrise. It was still odd for me to wake up with the sun and need to go to sleep when it was dark, considering the End didn't have days and nights. Ryder had shown me a clock, and it had little hands that would move with the position of the sun and moon. The sun had been towards the top when I first saw it, but later on when I checked it again it was about to disappear under the plate that covered the bottom half. Sure enough, the celestial bodies in the sky matched what was on the clock then.

"Aurora… you ready to go? Ryan says that we're gonna walk part of the way to Cobble, and once we get to a rendezvous point they'll send us horses." Rose said, attempting a small smile.

I couldn't just hope for one or the other, could I? We had to do… both! How exciting, how magnificent!

"Yeah, I'm ready."

I just brushed some of my dark black hair away from my face, tucking it behind my ear. It fell back in front of my eyes.

Of course it did. I just shrugged it off and walked out of the room to the walkway, doing my best to ignore the uncomfortable feeling as the pack banged against my elytra straps. It seemed that everyone else was already waiting near the little "dock" area. The way that the cliffside home was set out was so the paths connected each of the rooms, eventually ending in a little outcrop that was just above the level of the water. A small, rickety wooden boat that barely seemed able to hold one person was tied to the shore there, and although when questioned Ryder assured us that it was easily able to hold two people and a netful of fish, I doubted that. Fortunately, we had absolutely no reason to associate ourselves with it.

In fact, our planned route involved us walking back the way we came for a while, before cutting around and heading along a slightly separate route that would take us straight to the meeting point. Glancing at those around me, I found that varying expressions surrounded me. Rose looked worried, but at the very least she was trying her best to keep positive. Ryan looked determined, while Luna had a near-emotionless look on her face. Ryder fiddled with his backpack straps in an attempt to make both of them about the same length, but if anything he didn't seem bothered the slightest by how weighed down his pack was with everything he was carrying. Naomi had her bow unstrung and had tied it to her own pack, watching Rose and I expectantly as we traveled down the last few steps.

"Alright, do you two have everything?" Luna asked. Rose nodded.

"Then we're off!" Ryder replied. We had all agreed that although Ryder and Naomi would accompany us, we wouldn't tell Jayde about their faction. According to Rose, although many factions were peaceful and simply trying their best to get by, it was not in their nature for one faction leader to trust another, especially if they weren't allies. Although Ender was no longer in existence, Ryder and Naomi had expressed interest in rebuilding it like it was- a fishing village that quietly observed the passings of time. It reminded me of how the ender were- they were always there, but while hiding in the shadows they moved from place to place, watching.

 **~A time skip is in order, possibly due to otherworldly entities~**

We had only been traveling with minimal items, little enough to be stored in our packs. We weren't in need of mules or donkeys, we needed speed and stamina that would help us ride through the rough terrain. The group of scouts that had escorted the animals to us went ahead and rode full speed back off to Cobble, leaving us behind.

It was this that made our foremost problem blatantly apparent- I was the worst rider here. I had only ridden a horse once before, during our trip to and from the hidden valley. Not to mention the fact that I… well, I absolutely hated it. Horses were jumpy and when they galloped down the path, the rider would bounce and sway. The others were used to this and understood just how to combat this, but I was incredibly uncomfortable.

In the End, transportation was simply enough. For a normal ender, they could teleport between the main islands by sort of skipping between the small stones that littered the closest spaces between islands. However, islands themselves were too far apart to teleport all the way across a gap, which could easily be hundreds of meters long. Large shipments of items were often transported on large, floating ships, while there were also the beacons that teleported ender from the outer islands to the inner island, where the Overworld portal lay.

With my elytra, I was able to run along one of the open connecting bridges and launch myself out into the air. From there all that I needed to do was control myself well enough to get where I was going, and if I flew at the correct angle it was easy enough to traverse between the islands of stone. Measuring the angle, speed, and rate of descent I flew at was mostly just instinct at this point. I just knew what I needed to do to get where I wanted to go.

Yet here in the Overworld, none of that really came in handy. Apparently there were a few extremely large factions that lay far to the south which were significantly more modern, having rails for transporting goods and being surrounded by huge walls to keep mobs out, although they tended to keep to themselves and rarely communicated with the factions around here. Quite simply, much of the world had yet to be explored and populated by the factions. Maybe in many years they'd advance and live better lives. Who knew?

Cutting off my thoughts, Rose shifted in her saddle and glanced around. We had been following a path along a river for a portion of our route, and while it wouldn't be too much longer before we arrived according to Ryder's time-keeping device, there was no point in overworking the horses. Naomi's horse snorted as it lifted its head, having finished drinking water, causing Ryan to stop consulting his map for a few moments, glancing up. Luna led her horse a few steps closer, and allowed it to continue grazing as she leaned over his shoulder.

"We're almost there, we just need to continue on until the next bend in the river then move right into the mountains." Ryan said conclusively. He folded up the map again, tucking it into his backpack again and firmly grasping the reins in one hand. I had noticed that everyone seemed to use only one hand when riding, although a few people I had seen before held it in both.

We started off again, although I was presently thankful for the slow pace we started off on. The group was mostly silent, and I couldn't help but wonder if they were all speaking telepathically with each other. In any case, I wasn't interested in being the one to break the silence.

After a few minutes, Naomi reigned in her horse to move beside me as we went. "Aurora, something on your mind? I know there's a lot for you to think about."

I shook my head. "It's really nothing important, but I was just wondering something. Um, well, I noticed you guys all ride with the reins in one hand, although when I was staying in Gold faction I saw some people hold them in two."

She smiled slightly. "It's a different style of riding, actually, nothing more. We tend to hold them in one hand so that we can wield a weapon in the other, although back in Ender faction, our weapons often required two hands. Therefore, it wouldn't be too uncommon to see people riding both ways, but dropping the reins when it came time to shoot or throw something. We trained our horses not to bolt or to flee and to instead remain still and silent, to help us in hunting, battle, espionage, etcetera."

I didn't know how to reply to that. I suppose it was interesting, although I hadn't expected her to launch into a full-out technical description. In the end I simply nodded. "Oh. Ah, alright. Neat, I guess."

And that was that. The river, which we had been constantly keeping to our left, veered away from its nearly constant straight path, turning a hard right and continuing on right by the mountain. This wasn't its point of origin, although small waterfalls did feed it here. This was our cue, and Ryan began leading us to the right. Glancing up through the trees, I could see bare stone rise above us. Some of the lower hills had been grassy and covered in green, although it seemed the more mountainous areas were completely devoid of all kinds of life. I had noticed this when I first arrived in the Overworld, although I had originally suspected it was something more of a regional thing. Then again, from what I could tell this was all a part of the same mountain chain, so maybe it was.

As I soon found out, however, the mountain didn't just rise from the ground. It actually sloped upwards, and I soon began to notice the slight incline as the horses continued on. I was becoming genuinely worried at this point that the horses would need to walk on thin mountain paths. I wasn't too worried about the drop, but more so the thought of controlling an animal through that sort of trek.

I had just begun to steel myself for the unpleasant prospect of that sort of scenario when Ryan called for us to stop. I was so lost in thought that I nearly missed the order and drew back sharply on the horse's reins.

Luna dismounted, pulling out a sheet of paper from her bag. We were nearly at the tree line, and glancing at it I wasn't too sure as to what we were doing or where we were going to go. However, watching her step forward with it in hand I suddenly realized- it was a password. It made sense, in case allies whom they hadn't seen before needed to come join them and they didn't wish to take any chances.

At this point, the mountain seemed to dip downward into a shallow depression. However, because it was so steep it created an… interesting effect. Stopping some distance from us, Luna put the paper into something before walking back, just as calm as before.

"That was the password. At our last meeting in the hidden valley, Jayde told us about a new system her engineers had developed. It removed the manual part of the password, in a way that allowed her guards to know that a party was coming in. I didn't understand all the sciency stuff she talked about, but I have a feeling that was her intention. In any case, it's much faster than what Cobble faction had before. All we need to do is waltz right up to their entrance and we'll be welcomed in. Besides, in any case, most of them will recognize Ryan and I."

"Let's go on in, then." Naomi replied. Ryan nodded in answer and waited for a few moments as Luna remounted her horse. Once she was ready, we began again, Ryan talking about Cobble faction.

"You see, they're built into the mountain, with part of their base above and a part of it below. They control this part of the river, and made a bridge across it to allow for them to move supplies easier. Gold faction is highly secretive, being built totally underground and receiving rations and materials, paying for it with metals and well-forged tools. Cobble trades many of the same items, although their base is built differently. It doesn't work with the same kinds of things- they have more surface ores and such, whereas Gold harnesses lava and deep-earth ores and gems."

Okay, so in simplified terms- Cobble does things up, Gold does things down. Alright then. I turned my attention away from Ryan's description to Naomi about something concerning trade and looked around at the surrounding landscape. The depression I had noticed seemed to be walled in, only accessible through a sort of crevice in the stone. That made sense- anyone who wanted to enter would be easily picked off by guards should they be deemed a threat, while the guards would be difficult to attack, even with archers stationed on the surrounding mountain area.

I had suspected that the pathway through the stone would be slim and we may even need to dismount, but instead it was plenty wide enough, probably explained by Ryan somewhere in his description of commerce and trading. We entered the gap, and I shivered slightly as we entered shadow.

"Cobble's built in a quarry, mined out of the stone. It's partially open so there's room for… well, anything they want to do, honestly. Lots of stuff goes on out here, although it's really just a courtyard kind of thing. Everything else happens within the mountain itself." Luna added on.

The path began to widen just slightly, and the quarry began to come into view. However, there was one person I vaguely recognized standing at the exit, obviously waiting for us. She locked eyes with Ryan, and I saw him nod as he halted his horse.

It was Jayde.

"I am more than relieved to see you and Luna are safe from harm, brother, but things are far from peaceful. Come, I want you to tell me everything you know."

* * *

Chapter written by Author 2


	24. Better Allies

**Luna's POV**

Ryan was the first to dismount, but I quickly followed him. We hadn't been to Cobble faction in some time now, so we hadn't gotten to try out the new password system. It seemed to work really well because the stone gates had been open when we got to the entrance to the quarry.

I looked over at the rest of our riders. Rose was looking around, slightly surprised due to this being her first visit to the faction, Ryder and Naomi were exchanging nervous glances, and then I remembered this was Cobble faction, the faction they attacked. Last came Aurora who was looking around in awe, similar to Rose. Cobble and Quartz faction were similar in design, although Quartz was just on a big hill, not between two mountains.

That was another reason why Horse faction's betrayal was so problematic. As one could guess by their name, they had animal farms, specializing in horses, mules, and cows. The also had sheep, chickens, and rabbits, but they had far more cows than any of the other three. Almost all of the other allied factions' meats came from Horse faction.

As we began to follow Jayde I heard a cough, drawing my attention back to our little group. Then I realized why they were all staring at me, they had no clue what to do. Whoops.

"Uh, you all can dismount. Stick around the courtyard though, don't go wandering. Especially not Aurora, Naomi, and Rose. Last thing we need is some of Korbin's spies or whatever figuring out where you three are." I told them before jogging to catch up with Ryan and Jayde.

 _Is there a reason you chose not to communicate in the chat?_ Jayde asked after a while of us making small talk aloud as we walked down the hallways. Funny thing was, I completely forgot about just talking in general in the chat, after speaking aloud for so long it seemed almost foreign.

 _Oh, uh, sorry._ Ryan replied, shooting me a brief glance at me, _We were use to talking aloud since Aurora can't hear the chat._

 _Understandable,_ Jayde replied calmly before we turned into what I remembered was the meeting room. In one chair sat Jayde's general, Solua.

 _Hello Ryan, Luna._ Solua said with a small smile. He was a good bit older than the rest of us. He was Ryan and Jayde's mother's general of Cobble faction, but after she was killed he turned down becoming leader and gave the honer to Jayde.

 _Hello Solua, how are the kids?_ I asked as Ryan and I sat in the two seats across from Solua and Jayde sat in the one next to him.

 _Holly has made her way to captain of the pathway guards and Cody is one of the best archers this factions has seen in years._ He replied happily.

 _Although how much I'd love to sit and chat about a pleasant future, I'd rather us talk about keeping it that way._ Jayde said in a stern voice.

 _Yes, quite so._ Ryan agreed while I mentally scolded myself. We needed to focus, not chit chat.

 _Alright, we've gotten splotchy reports from Gold faction, saying something along the lines of a traitor, TNT, gravel, and the death of one of your captains. My condolences._ Jayde said in a grave voice, as if all that was rainbows and sunshine compared to what she had been dealing with.

 _Thank you,_ Ryan muttered before taking a deep breath, _The reports are correct, even if they do in fact lack detail. If you hadn't noticed, Rose, Dragon's apprentice, is with us._

 _Yes I did notice,_ Jayde confirmed, _Why did you bring her? I would think she would be needed to help Dragon with any injuries?_

 _That, I'm afraid, is where you're wrong…_ I began gravely, _Dragon was the traitor who set the TNT that broke through the gravel pockets. Rose is with us for her own safety._

 _What!? Why in the world would Dragon do that!?_ Soula exclaimed in shock while Jayde's eyebrows rose in shock.

 _We've been informed that Korbin bribed her. Apparently our head medic was once the general of Horse faction, but when the remnants of Ender faction fled to Horse faction Korbin gave the general title to Gregor, the old leader, demoting Dragon to captain. She then killed Gregor secretly, but one of the Ender faction survivors saw her and reported her. Dragon was banished from Horse faction and the only two Ender faction survivors left the faction. Soon after Dragon left Korbin sent a young scout to follow her, keep an eye on her._

 _It was all in hopes of keeping her from killing anyone else. That scout was our late captain Rachel, who Dragon killed when Rachel stopped her from killing Aurora and a factionless woman Luna rescued from mobs and brought back to our faction to heal. At the time Rose, Luna and I were in the medbay and separate from the rest of the group. Luna?_ Ryan gave me a look that suggested I finish the story. Oh the joy.

 _I had been taking Aurora on a tour of the faction and we were over one of the main ravines. Naomi, the woman we rescued, had come to join us when her injury started acting up so I ran back to the medbay, telling Rachel to keep an eye on them. When I got there Rose was rewrapping Ryan's leg and Dragon was missing. A miner informed us he saw the medic heading towards the living area of the faction._

 _I was about to go find her when the explosion went off. The faction exploded into chaos and it took me a while just to try and contact Rachel and Dragon._ My face went blank as I remembered the chaos, the sound of gravel and rocks falling, the terrified cries in pain, the choking amount of dust… _Rachel's voice suddenly poked out of the chaos, shouting for help. At first, I thought Naomi rigged the TNT, that she planned to use our hospitality to kill us all. I asked her what happened… She said Dragon was after Naomi and Aurora, that she set the TNT… Dragon protested from wherever she was, claiming Rachel was working with them and trying to destroy Gold faction. I heard Rachel beg for her life before murky silence…_ My voice gave out as I took a shaky breath. Ryan looked over at me with concern in his eyes but I shook my head and continued.

 _Ryan demanded to know what was going on but she never replied, instead we heard Naomi. She told us to run, that she was getting Aurora out. I asked what happened to Rachel and she said she passed out after Dragon struck her down with her sword. That was all I needed to hear, she was alive. I took off running down the dusty tunnel, Ryan calling after me to come back. I didn't stop until I made my way to where I had come from. It was blocked by gravel. I heard Aurora scream before I ran a different way. I kept running until I finally reached an area I was able to dig through and got to the ravine._

 _I found Rachel, a deep cut on her side. I tried to get her to come back to the medbay with her, but she insisted Dragon could come back any moment, and that she would never make it… She told me Korbin's plans… He and Dragon plan to take over the End for the resources and the items the enderman leave behind when the die. I had to leave before she had fully faded, but I know she'll respawn… She has to…_ I finished before Jayde let out a understanding sigh.

 _I am deeply sorry you lost your friend Luna, but how did you get out?_ She asked and Ryan took over explaining.

 _Thankfully my general was listening to the guide when we came down from the meeting and helped us get out. We told Camron, a captain, to get the faction out. I assume that's who contacted you?_

Soula nodded before going on to say Gold faction was camping inside the maze that lead down to the faction and on the mountain side. It was so shocking, the most feared of all the northern factions reduced to almost nothing…

 _We saw Naomi dragging Aurora out of the river and decided to follow her back to a cliffside home she and her friend shared. We were given permission to rest there and wait for Aurora to wake. We stayed for a total of two days before we told them what was going on. The next morning we contacted you and left for Cobble faction._ Ryan finished.

Jayde glanced at her general before taking a deep breath, _During those three days a lot happened. Korbin cut off all communication with Cobble and Gold faction. But he wasn't the only one. Quartz also canceled our resource trade scheduled for today the day after Gold was attacked. Not to mention all communication in general. This, along with unexplainable attacks on hunting groups near their border, we have reason to believe they are working with Horse faction in over taking Gold and Cobble faction._ My eyes widened in shock before I banged my fist on the table in anger.

 _That's it, we need better allies!_ I shouted in rage before placing my elbow on the table and letting my cheek rest on my palm. My will to fight was all but caput.

Jayde glanced over at me. _Yes, I do believe you're correct. But for the time being, we have other things to discuss. It's no question that we should, no, we need to take them down before they can gain control of the End. The value of the resources there could easily make them stronger than we can easily handle without heavy casualties._

Ryan nodded, thinking. _We've located an Ender Portal not too far from here. Not quite at the northern ices, but in the spruce forests. It's the closest and most easily accessible. I don't know which portal they'll take, but this way will allow us to hopefully enter and fortify a position in the End._

 _But we'll have to deal with the mobs there._

 _Well,_ Ryan continued, _That's where Aurora can help us. The island all portals lead to is large, and covered with pillars of obsidian. She can speak to the ender, and they can serve as reinforcements for us._

Soula sighed. _This sounds incredibly far-fetched, but if it works…_ He didn't finish his thought; didn't have to.

 _This seems like a steadfast plan. However, I do have one final question. Naomi and her friend- is there any chance they may be, well, spies?_

 _No._ I answered. _This has all been triggered by Aurora, not them. They've helped us and have useful skills. They're hunters as well as highly skilled warriors, and may be useful come the battle._

That seemed to be all Jayde needed to hear, thankfully. _Alright. We'll need to discuss this plan in more detail later and sort out troops and supplies. Gather Rose, Naomi, her friend-_

 _Ryder._ Ryan interjected.

 _-and Aurora._ Jayde finished. _We'll bring them to the commons area to temporarily sit in for the time being while we work things out. We can't leave them standing outside._

That was probably a good idea.

Soula rose out of his seat, _I'll go retrieve your friends and we'll meet you in the commons area._ He said with a small smile before walking off towards where we had come.

Standing up as well, Jayde led us down the tunnels that reminded me of home. A home I hoped to return to one day.

* * *

Chapter written by Author 1


	25. Seeing Stars

Not too interested in our surroundings, I had relaxed enough to rest my head upon my arms, idly tapping my fingers on the stone table. It had an odd texture, but was obviously some kind of rock. I didn't think it specifically mattered, and wasn't too interested in asking. It wasn't quite that fascinating to warrant such a response.

After the horses had been taken back to their stable, I had been disappointed as I'd reached the conclusion that we were going to be left to stand out there in the heat. The mountain range we were in wasn't even a particularly warm area, but I wasn't that keen on the sunshine. Already, parts of my face and arms had turned a slight red. Rose explained it was called "sunburn" and was caused by being outside in the light too much. It hurt if I messed with it, but wasn't the end of the world.

Even if it wasn't, however, it was still a reminder that fate was trying its hardest to mess things up for me. I mean, sure, plenty of incredibly lucky things had happened thus far, but really? Everything, including my pale demeanor due to the lack of sunshine in the End, was trying to make bad things happen.

I was probably reading too much into some light. After all, not only could it be easily healed with a potion, but when there was a lot of sun in the sky that just meant there weren't as many clouds to block it and leading to a clear, well-lit day.

But whatever the case, we only needed to stand outside for a few minutes before someone walked over to us, claiming to have been sent by Jayde to take us to the commons. Or a common area, whichever they had said; I was only half-listening.

Alright, alright. I couldn't do too much complaining about this. We were back underground, although this faction lacked the complex tunnels down into it. More of a "just under the surface" kind of thing. In any case, it was much cooler down here, almost bordering on chilly, although that was pleasant compared to the outdoors area we had been in previously.

The room was fairly large, filled with other tables and chairs. An unlit fireplace rested in the center, with a few unoccupied seats around it. Our company here was in the form of a few people gathered around one table shoved in the corner. From our vantage point it didn't seem they were gambling or anything; simply a game for fun. A fair distance away from both them and us was a woman reading, explicitly ignoring the more rowdy groups here.

It appeared to be a similar story around us- people sipping on this or that, reading, joking. I wondered if they would be this way if they knew what was happening. The man who had escorted us down here, named Soula, explained that this was a relaxation area of sorts. Somewhere people just came to hang out. There was apparently a library as well, and even when it was quieter there were always the people who preferred the atmosphere in here to read or work. I felt this might have been about the lady reading, but I couldn't be bothered to ask.

Rose handed me a nearly empty bottle of pink liquid accompanied with a "for your sunburn." She herself was slightly paler than Ryan and Luna, and even then the members of Cobble faction showed the differences between staying perpetually underground and at least visiting the surface. Maybe it was normal for them. Of course, Ryder and Naomi didn't seem to have as many problems with the sun. After all, they had those paths to walk and I supposed they were used to being out on boats or something.

After some time of sitting there- I couldn't say how much and didn't bother asking Ryder to check his timekeeping device because that wouldn't make anything happen faster- Soula spoke up.

"Jayde will be here shortly. She simply had to discuss things with her brother privately, and they took a quick walk around the faction. Luna will be here in a minute or so, the rest will come within fifteen at the most." He explained to us, breaking the silence that had settled over our little group, something that certainly hadn't spread across the room. Why no one seemed to be using their telepathy, I didn't know. Or maybe they were, it wasn't like I could hear.

We had gotten a few odd looks when people realized we weren't a part of their faction, but no one had tried to approach us. At the very last, I had to be thankful whoever this was seemed to have been briefed on my inability to use the "chat." I didn't enjoy being left out of something so important when it concerned the future of my home.

Sure, I did feel a bit isolated anyway. After all, I hadn't seen an ender for several days and my mind felt empty. It was easy enough to sense when someone else with our specific telepathic abilities was near, and trade a few thoughts. In any case, it was far more efficient to communicate with thoughts, memories, and emotions from my point of view. Yet as it was, speaking with their minds worked well enough for everyone else so I just had to roll with it.

Ryder had nodded in response to Soula. "Now, just to ask, who're you? A captain, guard?"

Soula didn't appear particularly bothered by the question. "General, actually. It's pretty common knowledge among the factions, although I've been told you and your friend are freestanding."

"Ah. Ah…" I gave a glance towards Ryder, slightly confused. He was, however, a genuinely confusing person so perhaps that was better written off as normal. "I, uh, see now. Pretty sure I had recognized you, just couldn't put my finger on from where. Yeah, Naomi and I were never in any faction, so we'd never have seen you up close before."

The general just shrugged. He didn't seem that interested or specifically suspicious. Although he appeared about to say something, having taken a deep breath, his words died even before they could be uttered as someone entered the room.

Since he sat across from me, putting the door at my back and slightly to the right, I had to crane my neck in order to get a view of the newcomer. I'd thought it was just some or another faction member, blinking when I realized who it was- Luna.

It made sense, of course. Luna was supposed to have been on her way here. However, it was still a bit of a surprise. But, now she was here, so there was that. Naomi gave a disinterested wave, Ryder glancing over towards her. Rose ended up with a smile as Luna walked over. Gold faction's general didn't sit down, instead choosing to lean against the table, resting a portion of her weight on her palms. Despite the offer to relax, she blatantly ignored it and went right ahead with an obviously pre-planned speech.

"Okay, I doubt Soula's told you this, yet. So here's how things are going down- To put it gently, we're in it for the long run. Jayde and Ryan will be gathering what troops they have and we're marching off to the nearest portal as soon as possible."

That was… disconcerting. It was a confirmation that they couldn't do anything about the situation except run head-first into the battle, swords swinging and arrows flying. They'd hope that they could hack down enough of the other people before they themselves were slaughtered.

I had to admit, I was a bit worried. The ender could certainly hold their own and would be good, temporary allies to the humans. Although they had access to incredibly strong, magically enchanted armor, weapons, jewels and ingots it was likely too late to ask for them to rally their supplies. I hadn't seen a single ender during my entire stay in the Overworld, and while it was rare enough that they would travel dimension, this was a bit odd. Sure, when it was possible they sometimes would go new places just to see things, such as the Nether. However, this systematic drop seemed strange. Was it possible they were defending themselves? That they'd already sensed a threat? Or simply coincidence?

Ender were about twice as strong as a normal human, if the number of hits they could take proved anything in particular. Their numbers were also much greater, but still… They would need to split troops between guarding the ender dragon, and by extension the egg and portal, with stopping humans from reaching the teleporters to the outer islands. I knew that Cobble and Gold factions could be of great use. If they had healing potions to spare, for example, they might be able to help heal troops.

The ender's way of healing, especially if it involved ingesting Chorus fruit, wouldn't be very helpful to humans. But there was still truth behind safety in numbers and it was better than straining the ender troops even more, thinking that we were the enemy.

Naomi was asking something, but I wasn't listening to her in particular. It was Luna's response that snapped me out of my thoughts.

"We'll be heading there- today, in fact. Rallying factions members and preparing. We just… well, we certainly can't just stand to the side for this one. It's now or never, and 'now' would be a lot better than 'never.'"

Ryder nodded, but didn't offer any advice. Naomi, however, seemed perplexed. "Chances are, the portal is unactivated, located deep underground, and filled with all sorts of mobs as well as traps or even just unstable stone. Don't tell me you're expecting to send the cavalry down into a cave and just magically appear in an entire other dimension?"

Jayde frowned. "No, of course not. Uh, let's see… We need to gather a force that can plot our path into and through the Stronghold. So that means experienced miners as well as a few guards for protection while they get everything sealed off. From there we need the main troops and the supplies they require. Food, water, that sort of thing."

"Food- mostly, stuff that's heavily nutritious and can keep troops going for long periods of time. They need to be able to eat it quickly and easily with the least amount of waste, so think meats and breads. Bring some, but minimal spices and vegetables to allow a larger range in their diet but keep them healthy, moving, and in good spirits without being too rich. Some softer foods for later on; better for those who are injured and we need to help recover, possibly using some of the flavouring from earlier to disguise bad tastes. We can't take too much or we'll be overpacked, but at the same time there's no way to gain more supplies when in the End so if the entrance or exit is sealed then it could be nothing more than a waiting game. On top of that, we'll..." Ryder trailed off unceremoniously when he noticed Jayde's expression.

She seemed to weigh her options as to saying something about his speech before eventually deciding against it and nodding. "Sounds good. It, uh, seems that you know what you're talking about, so there's that. We have donkeys as well as a few mules that can pull supplies, even if they won't be very helpful in the End proper."

Ryan appeared to catch onto what his sister was trying to say. "So we'll have to set up a camp outside of the Stronghold, large enough for people to stay behind and care for the animals. Most will have to walk alongside the main army, since we won't be able to handle everyone riding alongside. Send out a scout to lead Gold faction to the portal and the number of troops will give us a good chance- although Quartz and Horse faction aren't as large as ours, they've proven they're not afraid to pull off some low stunts and that makes them dangerous."

Even Naomi gave her thoughts on the matter. "Alright, so you gather your factions and get the supplies out. We move fast and- judging by the coordinates- we'll be there within a day or two, depending on how quickly everyone is mobilized. That way we'll have anything needed, and be marching in together. Obviously we need to get who's doing what, materials, weapons, shields and armor amounts passed out but we've got the rough draft all laid out."

So… on we went.

 **~*There's an actual line thing why don't we use that for timeskips? Ha, nope.*~**

I prided myself on having stamina. I was used to running along thin platforms, jumping out into open air without a second thought. There were plenty of instances involving me running up and down steep stairs that decorated the homestead I lived in. And this wasn't just a tight spiral- considering most ender could teleport and used this ability often, the "steps" were often little more than a bit of stone the jutted from the wall, or even a row of slim, glowing end rods which required incredible balance to jump along.

Of course, the End was filled with strange things that were of some help. Certain parts of a chorus fruit supposedly causing humans to uncontrollably teleport, as crazy as it sounds. Bright pellets launched from Shulkers causing objects to lift and momentarily float. Small, silverfish-esque creatures that squirmed and made small noises as they crawled through forests.

But despite all that, I was happy to posses the ability to run along tree limbs and keep upright on small surfaces; to run up and down many times a day and not tire. That, however, didn't prepare me for this.

"This" was, in fact, walking for hours on end despite having walked and ridden from a sea-side cliff home to the nearest friendly faction before getting back up and going just as far with a host of strangers. Not to mention the sun was setting, meaning it would be dark and mobs would be spawning. Considering that Quartz and Horse were probably already in the End, or nearly there, we didn't have time to waste. However, I was tired and hungry and genuinely worried we'd be getting attacked all the while, weakened before we even got to the portal.

Gold faction had yet to reach the rendezvous point- the camp- as far as we could tell, but that was fine considering we hadn't either. Instead, we were stuck walking through dense oak forest which seemed to be slowly giving way to more and more spruce trees, some of which were actually quite impressive in height. I remembered reading in my book that about giant spruce trees that towered over the surrounding landscape, but even if these were comparably short they still seemed to loom over us.

Jayde had sent a party ahead of us, leaving some time before we had. They had been given more than one task, of a few priorities.

Due to the chance of mobs in whatever sort of cave or ravine that led to the Stronghold's entrance, and by extension the portal, there'd been a guard tacked on with them. They weren't supposed to be setting up a camp or anything and had been given minimal rations alongside some of the faster horses. After all, there just wasn't the time for them to be moving across the landscape on a donkey or mule. They'd been given horses made for speed over any advantage in battle.

Once they arrived at the coordinates, following a map that had been prepared earlier, then they'd explore the cavern surrounding the Stronghold. They placed long-lasting torches and sealed or blocked any other tunnels the best that they could. With the guard protecting them they shouldn't be dealing with many difficulties, but the enormity of the task and the need to save time was real.

I stumbled over a small mound of dirt, quickly regaining my composure and continuing on. I had been walking by a group leading mules packed with supplies, knowing that they'd be protected well enough. There were a few people carrying bows that walked closer to the outside, and occasionally I'd see someone with a shield. However, many people only carried light weaponry as they didn't want to be hurt or tired by the time we arrived.

Cresting a hill, I inwardly sighed before looking out across the landscape. The only good thing about the coming darkness, in my opinion, was the fact that any sort of sign set up at the designated camp would be more visible. Or, perhaps it wasn't, but any kind of light would be. Jayde and Ryan hadn't seemed to be too concerned with any other faction trying to attack them, so on we went.

I heard a few people let out an audible sound of joy or relief and I scanned the landscape, trying to see what had caught their eye. My gaze landed on a faint glow some ways off in the trees and despite the knowledge that we still had to walk there, I too was glad. The end of our current little journey was in sight, even if the real problems were still upcoming.

There was the faint but growing-louder sound of people moving and my spirits lifted even higher. Gold faction was nearby. I was able to catch a glimpse of Luna and Ryan riding of through the trees, obviously not too concerned with the threat of mobs and concluded that they must be heading off to their faction and take not of everyone who was around, leading them back to the campsite.

We continued down the hill, a few people occasionally slipping or tripping on something due to the darkness. However, there weren't any larger incidents, and as we came upon the grounds the anticipation of just getting to eat and sleep later on was nearly tangible.

The area that had been cleared out surrounded a cave that burrowed into the fairly gentle slope. A few trees seemed to have been knocked over or cut down, and a small fire had been constructed. For the most part it seemed that it would suit the needs of the army.

The group from Gold faction had joined us, and were looking around the area. From there, Jayde and Ryan enlisted the help of their generals and began to set everything up. Since both factions often used horses as an important part of their army, using the cavalry as transportation or to storm enemies among other things, there'd already been an area set up for the steeds.

People had grabbed leads for their animals and tethered them to posts that had been staked in a designated portion of the camp. They were unloading supplies, setting up tents and establishing a guard. I was attempting to make myself useful, although in all honestly I wasn't doing much to be helpful. After all, I lacked cooking skills and I didn't know how to fight. Although I had medical training, it wouldn't be much use considering the techniques were so different.

I had just finished helping a group set up a tent when I felt a tap on my shoulder. Naomi motioned for me to come follow her, and with nothing better to do I complied. She'd probably been contacted through the chat and, due to knowing me unlike many of the other people here, I'd been dragged off.

"What is it?" I asked, unsure as to what exactly was needed, although I had an idea which probably involved the End.

Naomi looked around before heading off to the cave with myself following. "Although it's going to be a few hours before we can enter the End, Jayde and Ryan have decided to attempt and repair the portal now."

I was about to ask for her to elaborate, not to mention wonder why I was being brought along, when I noticed an obvious corridor cut into the stone. We entered it, Naomi and me passing by the guards stationed outside without any trouble and I inspected it closer. Unlike how Gold and Cobble faction had been made, the walls of the well-lit corridors were made from stone brick. Naomi caught me looking at them and pointed to small chips and cracks in many of them.

"Apparently, this place is infested with silverfish, the things that had torn up Ryan's leg. They burrow into the stone and hide there, making it both harder to break and dangerous. When one of them is injured, any in the surrounding area will wake up and try and eliminate the threat."

I nodded along to this and she continued talking about something involving the stone. Despite only half paying attention, I noticed when she turned into another room and I followed suit, pausing as I saw the contents.

The temperature in the room was noticeably warmer than the rest of the Stronghold, and it was easy to tell why. Lava pooled in a basin, providing light to the room. Raised above this and away from the stifling heat was something I recognized, but had never seen with my own eyes and instead only in pictures and memories from the ender. Even then, it was so much different in person. While it was true this was because the ender saw in a different colour scale than humans did, it was also because the feeling of truly standing there, the atmosphere surrounding me, was incredible.

Naomi and I ascended the steps to stand beside the leaders and generals. Ryder was holding something in his hands, and I blinked, almost losing my balance in shock when I recognized it.

Ender pearls. A physical coalition of distilled chorus, something that was present in every ender. The only way that it could be collected was after death, as it was sometimes left behind in a hardened form as a shiny globe.

I felt Namoi clamp her hand over my mouth, silencing any shouts I may have had. The very fact that they had these showed that an ender had died- in fact, likely had been killed- in the presence of these people. While not shocking, there was an inherent feeling of disturbance and fear to know that someone I may have even met once before had died around them, as unlikely as it was.

Grudgingly and unhappily, I pushed her hand away from me, forcing down any other thoughts. They were dead now, so what did it matter? At least it was going to help save everyone else in the end, and that was what mattered.

I watched as he took some sort of bright orange powder from a small bag and dusted it over the pearl, giving it a greenish glow that appeared to resonate around the room, highlighting the dark black pit in the center.

It looked like an eye.

Glancing at the portal itself, I saw that each of them already had one of these "eyes" placed on them, held in place. Kneeling down, Ryder set the very last one on the empty frame. For a few moments, nothing happened, and a few curious and confused glances were exchanged. Suddenly, Luna gave a surprised gasp.

An inky, purple-black, whispy substance emanated from each of the eyes placed on the frame, connecting and interweaving. I peered down into it and was amazed as the portal was formed. It seemed just like the portal back in the End, but looking through it I saw what I was sure were the stars of my home. Unlike in the Overworld with the stars having been drowned out by the light of the celestial bodies, the constant glow of the End was made from the starlight that illuminated even the most hidden corners of the dimension.

It wasn't truly looking into another dimension, simply a fabrication. But knowing that I was so close to going back...

I was exhausted and fearful, yet right then I felt ready to single-handedly take down the entirety of the opposing forces.

* * *

Chapter written by Author 2


End file.
